Portable analyzer for rapid olive oil authenticity assessment. Credit: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft

Counterfeit or low-quality products—such as olive oil made from dyed rapeseed oil—are often difficult or impossible to identify at a glance. A mobile gas chromatography sensor system is now being developed to help detect falsely labeled products directly on site. Three Fraunhofer institutes are working together to create an affordable, easy-to-use device that enables even non-experts to perform rapid, on-the-spot assessments.

Food fraud has been on the rise for years. High demand, intense price competition and complex supply chains create ideal conditions for mislabeling. If harmful ingredients are used, this type of fraud can pose serious health risks. Until now, detecting counterfeit foods has required costly and time-consuming laboratory analyses. In addition, lab-based analysis systems require trained specialists to operate the equipment and interpret the data.

Fraunhofer researchers are working to address this issue. In the Fraunhofer PREPARE project PUMMEL, research teams at the Fraunhofer Institutes for Photonic Microsystems IPMS, for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME and for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV are combining their core expertise in gas chromatography measurement methods, sensor development and chemical sensing. Their goal is to develop a mobile gas chromatography sensor system for rapid on-site detection of volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

VOCs are chemical compounds that reveal information about a material’s composition or possible health hazards and can signal changes in product characteristics. The detection of VOCs plays an important role in many fields, including food quality and safety, health care, civil security, agriculture and the chemical industry.

Two industrially relevant use cases

"There’s a clear need for cost-efficient, rapid and robust on-site measurement technology that yields immediate results," says Olaf Hild, Head of Department at Fraunhofer IPMS. "Our system isn’t universal, but its modular design makes it suitable for a broad range of applications. In the PUMMEL project, we’re focusing on two industrially relevant use cases.

"First, the identification of counterfeit olive oil, which ranks among the top 10 most frequently falsified food products, and second, the detection of contaminated plastic recyclates that can accumulate in packaging materials. This is particularly significant given that the recycling rate reached a record high of nearly 70% in 2025. For this purpose, we’re developing two application-specific demonstrators for VOC detection."

Mark Bücking, Head of Department at Fraunhofer IME, adds, "We’re aligning industrial interests with scientific challenges, with a focus on technological innovation that serves the German and European economy."

The mobile system—about the size of a shoulder bag once complete—will consist of a silicon-chip-based gas chromatography column (GC column), a detector or sensor, integrated sample preparation, control and data-processing electronics and a power supply. "Gas chromatography (GC) is an analytical method used to separate, identify and quantify mixtures of substances. It’s suitable for gaseous or readily vaporizable compounds that don’t decompose on vaporization," explains Olaf Hild. "A carrier gas first transports the sample through the GC column, which we’ve etched into a rapidly heatable and coolable silicon chip."

Inside the column, the gas molecules interact with the polymer-coated inner walls. The VOCs react with the inner coating depending on their affinity, and the mixture is separated. At the end of the chip-based GC column, a detector measures the substances separated by their molecular characteristics, generating a gas chromatogram with peaks that reveal the composition of the mixture. Fraunhofer IME handles the analysis of the measurement data. In the case of olive oil, the goal is to determine parameters, such as country of origin, age and purity level.

Initial tests successfully completed

Current tests using a conventional three-meter GC column demonstrate reliable separation of VOCs and enable effective sample analysis. GC columns in conventional, high-end laboratory gas chromatographs are often more than 30 meters long and deliver higher separation efficiency, but this level of efficiency is not required for quality assessment of most foods. Among other challenges, the Fraunhofer researchers are working to design miniaturized GC columns capable of providing sufficient separation of VOCs specific to different foods.

"With our system we’re targeting non-specialists, such as bottlers and incoming-goods inspectors, who can easily operate the device after a short briefing," says Tilman Sauerwald, a researcher at Fraunhofer IVV, where the demonstrators are currently being developed. "The components of our system can be adapted for specific applications, making it suitable for quality control in a range of different contexts, including the analysis of recycled plastics. We’re more than happy to work with industry partners to develop customized applications."

The researchers will present some results of the project from March 24 to 27, 2026, at the Analytica trade fair in Munich at the Fraunhofer joint stand in Hall 3, Stand 312.

Citation: Rapid on-site detection of food fraud (2026, January 5) retrieved 5 January 2026 from https://phys.org/news/2026-01-rapid-site-food-fraud.html

This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.