A recent study by Esquerre et al. investigated the potential of MEMS-based NIR spectrometer applicability along with Vis/NIR and HSI systems in predicting moisture content, antioxidant capacity and total phenolic content in treated ground peppercorns.
Pepper is a widely used spice and has a significant economic impact on both cultivations as well as in the food industry. Furthermore, pepper (Piper nigrum L.) has been shown to be a source of numerous biologically active compounds from immunomodulatory properties to activity against multidrug-resistant bacteria.
In the food industry, quality and process control measurements are traditionally conducted using off-line measurements in laboratories which cause delays between the sampling and implementing the results to optimize production processes.
In-line PAT. technology applications help in understanding the process and product variability and enable faster production process optimization. Therefore, new methods of quality and process control are being investigated.
According to the authors, a very good performance of the models developed using the validation sets demonstrated the potential of NIR-MEMS to predict the moisture content, antioxidant capacity, and total phenolic content of peppercorns. This technology can be used for in-line control of multiple analytes in peppercorn processing.
It has been previously shown that the MEMS-based NIR spectrophotometers have shown potential in a variety of PAT and food applications and the spectroscopy technologies investigated in this study are suitable for use as in-line PAT tools to facilitate improved process control and understanding during peppercorn processing.
Available online
Read also a guest-pen article by Robert Zimmerleiter (RECENDT) on the applicability of NIRONE sensors in process control: The Key Enabling Technology for Smarter Processes: Compact, Rugged and Cost-Efficient NIR Spectroscopy Sensing Solutions
For further information on the Spectral Engines’ MEMS-based NIR spectral sensors please read more at:
