Spectroscopic analyses of foods with a low environmental impact

In the last few years a sector of Spectroscopic Analytical Chemistry relating to the research of analyses and increasingly accessible analytical methodologies, of low cost, fast and adaptable to customers often inexperienced in chemistry has spread. The world energy situation (despite this period of low cost oil due to reasons far removed from the market itself) with a growth in demand and a forced reduction of the energy supply has given more importance to the factor EROEI (Energy Returned On Energy Invested). This coefficient, which when referred to a given energy source indicates its convenience in terms of energy output, has arrived in many research areas becoming an important parameter to evaluate, compare and make strategic choices, in our case, of analysis of the different analytic techniques that can be used to determine and characterize an analyte. In this perspective new spectroscopic analytical methods in the food sector that are not only based on precision and accuracy but also on all the parameters discussed above will be presented. An application example is represented by the analytical systems which specialize and optimize the photometric technology in terms of cost, of the amount of reagent used, and of time. Such systems are based on the use of "micromethods", involving the use of small quantities of the sample used for the analysis and a consequent significant decrease in the consumption of chemical and biochemical reagents. If they are compared with traditional reference methods, they determine a considerable reduction of waste to be disposed. The advantages of micromethods, combined with a multivariate optimization of analytical procedures allow to make quality controls directly on the food production line and no longer require the transfer of samples to remote laboratories, thus saving time and increasing the efficiency of control, especially in the measurement of dynamic parameters in rapid evolution as in oxidative processes. In particular the multivariate optimization has the aim to determine the type and quantity of pre‐dosed and pre‐put‐into‐phials reagents so as to obtain an optimal process. The simplification and the low energy impact of the analytical protocols allow to develop new techniques of appreciation of oxidative stability, as shown by the study of olive oil samples from the Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry of the University of Athens, as an alternative to the traditional methods, which, applied on production chain, determine as a result the improvement of the quality level of the food product. Also, rapid measurement methods of biophenols content in extra virgin olive oil were developed; these methods have been found to have a very good correlation with the international reference methods.