Belfast-based authentication provider Bia Analytical has launched new technology that will reduce the time needed to detect tampering in herbs and spices products from days to minutes. The solution is a web-based portal designed by cloud engineering company Storm Reply. 

Despite the high risk of food fraud, authenticity testing traditionally takes up to two weeks to complete and is limited to a small sample size due to volume-based cost. The launch of Bia Analytical’s portal means food testing laboratories — and other organizations across the supply chain — can access and use its authenticity models.

The portal combines advanced chemometrics, AI-powered modeling and spectroscopy. It displays complex analytics in easy-to-understand dashboards and can be accessed by standard web browsers, meaning professionals across different locations and organizations can view the same information at the same time.

It can also be connected to handheld spectrometers, which Bia Analytical launched as a new portable authentication service in 2024. Government bodies, food manufacturers, and retailers use the portable service to rapidly screen herbs and spices and enhance audit and quality control processes.

Bia Analytical’s CEO Simon Coles says: “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 and freeing up our scientists to develop new models for other commodities.”

AWS design 

Developers at Storm Reply created the portal using Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud services. According to developers, the speed and accessibility of instant digital testing may encourage more frequent and high-volume testing.

Storm Reply partner Rachel Grunwer says: “Food analysis is an industry that needs modernization. Bia Analytical brought us some challenging requirements that couldn’t be met by off-the-shelf solutions, and it’s been hugely rewarding working in partnership with them to digitize the testing process and demonstrate how it can benefit the whole supply chain and consumers.”

Currently, the food fraud crisis is costing the industry at least £12 billion (US$15 billion) annually, according to the University of Portsmouth. A 2021 EU study found more than half of the products in the market contained “some amount of undeclared plant material.” Most affected by fraud was oregano, with 48% of samples bulked out to unapproved levels, usually with olive leaves, followed by pepper, cumin, turmeric, and saffron. 

The modeling technology can be applied to almost any commodity, formulation or specification in the supply chain, such as high-risk commodities like meat, fish, soybeans, cocoa and coffee.

Reducing the time of analysis is as important for a commercial lab as it is for a food manufacturer or retailer. Reading Scientific Services Ltd (RSSL) has partnered with Bia Analytical to conduct a critical beta test aimed at advancing the development of the new food authenticity testing technology. 

Bia Analytical’s Simon Cole concluded: “The current small-scale trials with the new authenticator portal show that the technology works, is accurate and secure. We’ll be offering the technology to more food testing labs throughout the coming year, which will complement the transformation of quality control processes in the field by high-volume food manufacturers and grocery retailers.”