New Zealand
April 12, 2005
Imagine a world where you can trace the meat on your plate back
to the animal it came from on the farm.
A world where information is captured at the speed of light and
our knowledge of organic materials has increased a thousand
fold.
Information at our fingertips that previously was unobtainable.
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Near Infra Red Spectoscropy |
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In its simplest form NIR can be described as ‘shining a
light at something and collecting the light you get
back, then contrasting the two spectra. From that you
can tell what is ‘in’ the thing you shone the light on
the first place.
(eg: where traditional technologies can assess the total
energy content in stock food or tell you how much
phosphorus is in a soil sample, NIR can assess the
amount of ‘digestible’ energy that stock can utilise
from food and how much phosphorus in a soil sample is
actually available for plant use.)
Outside of agriculture:
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Pharmacists use NIR to check the ingredients of an
individual pill.
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Petrochemical companies use it to assess octane
levels in fuel.
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Supply and Shipping companies use it to examine
popular food staples like wheat, beef and milk.
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It’s a world
AgResearch
Chairman Rick Christie today told a gathering of scientists is
already evolving – as non-invasive measurement becomes
mainstream and new technologies, such as Near Infra Red
Spectoscropy or NIR are used to break into previously
unchartered areas.
“This relatively new technology is becoming the research tool of
choice in industries as diverse as the medical environment to
agriculture, and the oil industry to food giants.
Its non-invasive nature and the quick turn-around of data (it
only takes a few seconds to assess a product using the
technology) mean NIR has become a growing science area of its
own.”
The CRI Chairman was addressing a gathering of more than 300
leading practitioners in NIR at their 12th annual
conference being hosted for the first time in New Zealand.
He told the scientists NIR non-invasive measurement – and NIR in
particular – will be crucial technologies to ensuring New
Zealand’s pastoral sector remains a world leader in providing
quality produce in the most efficient manner with the least
impact on the environment.
“If it enables farmers, handlers and processors to get more out
of our natural resources with less damage, it will have made a
huge contribution to this country’s long term sustainability “
Rick Christie told the conference NIR is already having a huge
impact on quality and efficiency in our primary industries.
And he believes the applications of the technology will only be
limited by the imagination of the analyst.
NIR is already being used in this country to assess the
properties of a range of products including wheat, wool, milk,
soil, honey, pharmaceuticals and fertilisers.
R& D companies, like AgResearch have investigated its use in as
diverse subjects as detecting breast cancer, art fraud, the sex
of silkworms and pregnancy in cows.
FeedTECH, a commercial company within AgResearch uses NIR to
measure the nutritional value of pastures and silage to be fed
to cows, cattle and sheep for farmers and consultants.
The Crown Research Institute has also been developing systems
and processes for traceability product assurance and information
collection to meat plants through the use of a variety of non
invasive measurement platforms. |
