Toward commercial applications of LED and laser‐induced fluorescence techniques for food identity, quality, and safety monitoring: A review

Abstract

The assessment of food safety and quality is a matter of paramount importance, especially considering the challenges posed by climate change. Convenient, eco‐friendly, and non‐destructive techniques have attracted extensive attention in the food industry because they can retain food safety and quality. Fluorescence radiation, the process by which fluorophore emits light upon the absorption of ultraviolet or visible light, offers the advantages of high sensitivity and selectivity. The use of excitation–emission matrix (EEM) has been extensively explored in the food industry, but on‐site detection of EEMs remain a challenge. To address this limitation, laser‐induced fluorescence (LIF) and light emitting diode‐induced fluorescence (LED‐IF) have been implemented in many cases to facilitate the transition of fluorescence measurements from the laboratory to commercial applications. This review provides an overview of the application of commercially available LIF/LED‐IF devices for non‐destructive food measurement and recent studies that focus on the development of LIF/LED‐IF devices for commercial applications. These studies were categorized into two stages: the preliminary exploration stage, which emphasizes the selection of an appropriate excitation wavelength based on the combination of EEM and chemometrics, and the pre‐application stage, where experiments were conducted on scouting with specific excitation wavelength. Although commercially available devices have emerged in many research fields, only a limited number have been reported for use in the food industry. Future studies should focus on enhancing the diversity of test samples and parameters that can be measured by a single device, exploring the application of LIF techniques for detecting low‐concentration substances in food, investigating more quantitative approaches, and developing embedded computing devices.

Chlorophyll Fluorescence Imaging for Environmental Stress Diagnosis in Crops

“…In order to improve the accuracy of the model, the generalization ability of the model should be verified by increasing the number of samples and considering adjustments to image acquisition parameters. It is required to improve performance through data characteristics’ or data outliers’ processing [ 77 ]. Although this approach does not visualize the photometer and the chemical and biological content within absolute chlorophyll, it presents its potential in monitoring applicable and non-destructive crops in a variety of environments [ 78 ].…”

Nanoscatterer-Assisted Fluorescence Amplification Technique

“…Fluorescent probes have been used to detect and quantify pollutants, monitor water quality and assess the health of ecosystems [14][15][16]. Food monitoring has received much attention due to health and safety issues [17] and resource conservation [18]. Fluorescence methods have successfully contributed to its development [19][20][21].…”