Scientific Method / Science & Exploration

Laser intended for Mars used to detect “honey laundering”

You may be putting counterfeit honey in your tea.




Thanks to a new laser "isotope ratio-meter" developed at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory at Harwell, this fake honey can be detected.

The device has small, highly accurate lasers designed to be sent to space to look for trace amounts of gas in very small samples. The laser has an adjustable optical frequency or "color" that can be beamed at a gas sample. The frequency can be adjusted until you reach a certain frequency that is specific to a particular gas, and the light is then partially blocked.

"Each molecule, and each of its isotopic forms, has a unique fingerprint spectrum. If, on the other hand, you know what you are looking for, you can simply set the laser to the appropriate frequency," explained Damien Weidmann, Laser Spectroscopy Team Leader at RAL Space.

The relative levels of different isotopes can reveal information about the history of the formation of the molecule. Weidmann is keen to use the system to examine the methane in the Martian atmosphere, looking at the ratios of carbon isotopes to identify its origin. A bacterial origin would indicate life had occurred on Mars.

The same tool can be used to scan the carbon dioxide released from burning a few milligrams of honey to see whether it is a cheap substitute or not. Weidmann explains: "You take a food sample -- a few milligrams of olive oil, chocolate, wheat or whatever -- and you burn. As the sample burns, it releases carbon dioxide you test with the laser instrument."

RAL Space has teamed up with UK company Protium MS to develop a small portable device that can be used to probe for counterfeit foods -- not just honey, but also olive oil and chocolate. This will provide a carbon isotope fingerprint that shows the product's provenance. "You will know, in the case of olive oil, if it genuinely comes from Sicily or if it is a counterfeited fake," adds Weidmann.

David Bell, director of Protium, explains that honey is a "classic example" because "it's an expensive product to buy, but you can create a counterfeit product that looks very similar using sugar instead of bees." Laser analysis of this sort can match the honey to the flowers of a specific geographic region.

Bell believes that, as lasers become smaller and lighter, this mechanism will be used more in the future to test food health and safety. "The tests can help identify the geographical origin of food products and identify counterfeits with high accuracy," Bell concludes.

This story originally appeared on Wired UK.

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