New Laser Scanner to identify Carcinogenic Chemicals

We all love French fries as it is great in taste and satiates our hunger. But are they safe and healthy? 

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) had issued a warning about eating over fried potatoes, burnt toast and crisps that contain cancer-causing chemicals, known acrylamide. It is deemed to be a serious health threat to billions of consumers.  

Currently, the raw potatoes that produce an excess of the carcinogenic chemical acrylamide cannot be detected in a fast, sensitive and non-destructive way. The new technique developed by Lien Smeesters, at the B-PHOT Brussels Photonics Team at the University of Brussels, in collaboration with Tomra Sorting Solutions, employs a new sensor. This sensor scans peeled potatoes and weeds out food that may cause high levels of acrylamide. 

Currently, only general quality tests are available for assessing potatoes with no accurate acrylamide detection. 

Food safety measures involve a person examining a sample and accepting an entire batch if the small selection passes. However, with this new sensor, every potato or individual French fry can be examined in a rapid, safe and thorough manner for the first time.