Food fraud has proven to be a very lucrative business and large industries have developed ways around many of the most commonly used tests used in food fraud detection. 

Authentic Food Solutions has developed an innovative detection technique using magnetic resonance – which is one of the best tools available for analyzing molecular structure and components in organic materials. Magnetic resonance is an analytical technique that is able to elucidate molecular structure by observing and measuring the interaction of nuclei when placed in a powerful magnetic field. The most well known use of magnetic resonance is in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) in hospitals. 

Many classical analytical methods used in food fraud detection are only able to detect a small fraction of the compounds present in a sample. Magnetic resonance is capable of detecting ALL organic compounds in a sample. This data provides a unique “fingerprint” for each sample, which is compared to a database of samples of known origin. This allows Authentic Food Solutions to identify what should (or shouldn’t be) in a sample, including:

• sugars
• amino acids
• lipids
• adulterants (such as fillers)
• contaminants
• evidence of fermentation

Authentic Food Solutions’ magnetic resonance technique can even detect evidence of efforts to remove contaminants (such as column filtration) as well as markers that indicate the geographic or botanical origin of the sample.  

While other companies use similar techniques, we have developed proprietary methods that allow us to generated more than two times as much data for analysis than other methods. The greater amount of data generated by our method allows for accurate species and geographic origin identification. 

Dr. Peter Awram of Authentic Food Solutions believes that once implemented, the use of magnetic resonance spectroscopy in food fraud detection could become: 

• A standard QA/AC and traceability documentation process for producers,
• A product certification and marketing tool for wholesalers and retailers, 
• Part of an improved product surveillance process at CFIA and similar agencies for both domestic and imported foodstuffs.