Optical sensing of fluorescent marker for fast detection of beverage naturality

Fruit extracted beverage is one of the major sources for the intake of fruit nutrients, such as dietary fibers, vitamins, amino acids, etc. To guarantee the quality (naturality, freshness etc.) of beverage, a detection method is needed for the authentication purpose, in particular suitable for consumer usage. Chlorophyll (Chl) and chlorophyll catabolites exist extensively in plants, but not in synthesized drinks. They possess unique optical spectroscopical properties, such as absorption and fluorescence. In this work, Chl and Chl catabolites are proposed as intrinsic molecular markers for authenticating the quality of fruit juice beverage. The naturality and freshness can be determined qualitatively and quantitatively based on the existence and relationship of the fluorescent intensities at their fingerprint wavelength(s). This method is non-invasive, fast and has great potential of being implemented in a low-cost portable device. Future work includes prototype building and testing.