Forensic Chemistry: Using Spectroscopy to Detect Food Fraud with Professor Kate Kemsley & Dr Maria J. Marin from University of East Anglia

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In this Forensic Chemistry session, Professor Kate Kemsley and Dr Maria J. Marin from the School of Chemistry, Pharmacy and Pharmacology at University of East Anglia will run an interactive talk for students on Using Spectroscopy to Detect Food Fraud.

Vast amounts of agricultural commodities are traded around the world every day. These global supply chains mean that many foods are vulnerable to adulteration with cheaper ingredients for economic gain. Analytical chemistry provides important tools for detecting and deterring this kind of ‘food fraud’: using techniques such as spectroscopy, we can profile a sample’s chemical composition and compare it to that of genuine products. This supports consumer trust and protects the livelihoods of honest growers and suppliers.

Foods, especially plants, are complex materials containing multiple different biochemical compounds. The levels of these vary naturally with growing conditions, and sometimes also with authenticity: a good example is coffee, where the compound 16-O-methylcafestol is found only in ‘robusta’ beans. These are sometimes used to adulterate Arabica beans, which are higher quality and more valuable. We will show how a chemical fingerprint of Arabica coffee obtained by NMR spectroscopy can quickly and easily confirm the absence of this compound and thereby verify authenticity.

Lecturer Profiles: Professor Kate Kemsley & Dr Maria J. Marin

Our events are designed so that a group of students can take part from a classroom or students and teachers can take part as individuals, either from school or from home. There is no charge to take part.

As a live, participative event, this session will not be recorded but slides and other resources will be shared after the event, where available.

Suitable for: Aged 16+ pre-university students studying, or with a possible interest in studying, Chemistry, Food Science and related disciplines. Student groups as well as students and teachers joining individually are very welcome.

Preparation/Pre-Reading: Students may wish to consider the topic in advance and questions they have. Students can also think about questions about studying at university level.

The IT Setup: The event will be run on Zoom and participants will be able to join using laptops, tablets, and mobile devices. If you are joining as a school group, we recommend connecting with one device and projecting on to a whiteboard. You will be able to interact with the speaker via typed comments and questions and/or via a microphone. Full details will be sent to those who have registered (see below) prior to the event.

Booking a Place: This is free for schools and colleges. If you would like to take part in this event, please register your interest using the link to the registration form below:

Register here