Thyme is money: Northern Ireland firms new tech cuts herb and spice authentication time from days to minutes!
Belfast-based Bia Analytical launches new portal which uses advanced science to speed up authenticity testing, addressing a significant gap in the industry
A newly launched technology set to revolutionise the food supply chain by reducing the time required to authenticate herb and spice samples from days to minutes, has been developed for Belfast-based Bia Analytical.
The technology is the result of a collaboration between the food authentication provider and cloud engineering company Storm Reply. The web-based portal uses advanced science to speed up authenticity testing, addressing a significant gap in the industry.
Despite the high risk of food fraud, previously authenticity testing could take up to two weeks to complete and would be limited to a small sample size due to volume-based cost.
However the Belfast medical laboratory’s new portal enables food testing laboratories and other stakeholders across the supply chain to access and benefit from advanced authenticity models.
The portal uses chemometrics, AI-powered modeling, and spectroscopy, applying Bia Analytical’s scientific models to identify authenticity instantly. The results are displayed in easy-to-understand dashboards, and the portal is accessible via standard web browsers, allowing users from different locations to view the same data simultaneously.
The platform initially focuses on herbs and spices but can be applied to high-risk products like meat, fish, soybeans, cocoa, and coffee. Bia Analytical has partnered with Reading Scientific Services for a critical beta test.
Storm Reply partner Rachel Grunwerg said: "Food analysis is an industry which needs modernisation. Bia Analytical brought us some challenging requirements which couldn’t be met by off-the-shelf solutions, and it’s been hugely rewarding working in partnership with them to digitise the testing process and demonstrate how it can benefit the whole supply chain and consumers."
Bia Analytical’s chief executive Simon Cole said: "With food supply chains being long and complex, fraud can occur at any point from the farm to the supermarket shelf. Testing more and testing faster are key for achieving food safety and security.
"We knew there was a better way of helping the industry to make faster decisions. By providing anyone access to our scientific models through the cloud we’re significantly increasing testing capacity in the market, as well as freeing up our scientists to develop new models for other commodities."
Mark Wilson, senior group manager at RSSL, added: "Saving time on complex sample analysis has the potential to transform our day-to-day authenticity testing process. That’s why we’re pleased to partner with Bia Analytical on this essential beta test to verify the ability of the novel system to work seamlessly on our laboratory hardware."