Hyperspectral Inspection Could Help Stem a Rising Tide of Food Fraud

When fraud is eventually detected, the costs to the supplier, producer, and processor include not just the recall itself but the human cost if toxic material is involved and the damage to companies’ reputations. Hyperspectral imaging offers a rapid and non-destructive way to detect food fraud.

According to Donna Eastlake, deputy editor of FoodNavigator and editor of ConfectioneryNews, there is a new wave of food fraud sweeping over the globe. In a recent article she outlines the economic cost (€2.3bn per year in Britain alone) and the methods fraudsters employ. There is a direct correlation between rising commodity prices and the amount of fraudulent activity. In 2025, the number of known instances increased by 10% — and these are just cases that were discovered.

Because of advanced document forgery and complex supply chains, fraudulent products can make there way to the unsuspecting consumer. When fraud is eventually detected, the costs to the supplier, producer, and processor include not just the recall itself but the human cost if toxic material is involved and the damage to companies’ reputations.

Common targets for food fraud include:

• Edible oils such as olive and sunflower
• Honey
• Wheat and other grains

Headwall companies offer ways to detect food fraud using systems designed for use in the factory as well as in the laboratory. Hyperspectral imaging is a non-contact technology and thus non-destructive to potentially valuable material. It is also extremely fast, in some cases running in “real time” as product pass underneath high-tech camera systems. Instead of processing small samples offline, sometimes taking minutes or hours, to determine authenticity, hyperspectral imaging can determine a product’s status instantly. In addition, this allows non-contact inspection of 100% of the product.

Headwall hyperspectral cameras and system already allow customers to quickly and non-destructively measure and grade food products, as well as detect unwanted foreign material. These cameras can be used in challenging factory environments and well as in offline or at-line areas to quickly perform spot-checks of new products or to monitor changes over time, for example from harvest season to harvest season.

Mitigating food fraud requires multiple steps, including certificate validation, supplier background checks, and also inspection and detection along the processing and supply chain. Hyperspectral imaging offers a way to perform checks rapidly and in a non-invasive way.