Application of low-cost NIR spectroscopy and near infrared hyperspectral imaging (NIR-HSI) and chemometrics for food safety inspection of samples relevant to Brazil and Mozambique.

• Grant number: 24/07881-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: February 01, 2025
• End date: January 31, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Food Science and Technology - Food Engineering
• Principal Investigator: Douglas Fernandes Barbin
• Grantee: Ademar Domingos Viagem Máquina
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia de Alimentos (FEA). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 23/07385-7 - Applications of artificial vision for quality monitoring of emerging foods, AP.R

Abstract

Currently, the need to respond to the fight against food insecurity is a priority for the World Health Organization and the Governments of Brazil and Mozambique, leading to the development of new alternative foods. Therefore, in the search for alternative sources to improve the food matrix, the addition of insects and fortifiers to food products has stood out in the world as an alternative to dependence on fats and the search to reduce the impacts of food insecurity, due to some advantages, such as being a source of proteins, essential fatty acids, minerals, vitamins and bioactive peptides with antihypertensive, antioxidant and antimicrobial properties and its production has a lower environmental impact compared to other sources of animal protein. The countries Brazil and Mozambique have favorable agro-climatic conditions for the cultivation of corn and sorghum on a large scale, where their flours constitute the basis of nutrition for the Mozambican population. To ensure that this population continues to receive essential nutrients through their usual diet in a sustainable way, the Mozambican government approved the Regulation on Fortification of Foods with Industrially Processed Micronutrients, in decree no. 9/2016 of April 18. Taking into account that this process is subject to the occurrence of fraud, particularly the use of adulterants (unauthorized nutrients) and the content of fortifiers above or below that required by legislation, this research proposes the development of low-cost analytical methodologies for classification and quantification, as rapid, non-destructive analysis of the content of fortifiers and adulterants in the mixture of corn and sorghum flour with black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens L.) flour using NIR and NIR-HSI spectroscopy techniques associated with PLS, PLS- chemometric methods DA and DD-SIMCA, which can be used by competent bodies in the quality control of these foods. To this end, samples of each type of flour (corn, sorghum and black soldier fly) will be used for calibration models that will be tested using both a portable NIR spectrometer and NIR hyperspectral system (NIR-HSI) that may be later implemented in Mozambique for food inspection. In this way, the project presents a scientific strength, in the application of advanced food analysis techniques, a social strength, in the identification of adulteration for food safety and food safety, and a human resource training strength, where the researcher, who already has training in chemometrics, will learn to work with spectral images and also low-cost equipment, to transfer knowledge to Mozambique.