Eat, but Verify: Low-Cost Portable Devices for Food Safety Analysis

Illness caused by adulterated and counterfeit foods is a very common health issue for consumers. Food fraud also affects manufacturers by damaging their reputation, resulting in a decrease in market share and consumer trust. Thus, food safety has emerged as a critical issue for consumers and manufacturers alike. Fraudulent food products are often the result of opportunities taken by willful offenders who mislabel, falsify, and/or adulterate for economic gains. In some cases, the contents of a packaged food item may not match its label. In other cases, the labeling may be correct while the product itself is counterfeit. Thus, in today's market where most food items are industrially packaged prior to sale, it is important to prioritize the consumers' right to authentic and safe food products. The solution to this challenge is not to use expensive security measures that increase the final price, but to develop economical and portable food safety, quality assurance, and authentication devices for use at all stages of a food product life cycle-from production to consumption. Such devices would be a game-changer in the field of food safety.