A PORTABLE FOOD AND/OR BEVERAGE ANALYZER AND A METHOD OF ANALYZING A FOOD AND/OR BEVERAGE IN THE FIELD

摘要

The invention concerns a portable food and/or beverage analyzer comprising an optical analysis system for performing a quantitative chemical analysis of a food and/or beverage by analyzing an optical signal comprising a plurality of wavelengths emanating from a sample of the food and/or beverage to be analyzed, the plurality of wavelengths originating from illumination of the sample using a light source, the optical analysis system comprising a spectroscopic device comprising a dispersive element on which the optical signal is incident, for spatially separating the optical signal into its constituent plurality of wavelengths, a multivariate optical element being arranged so that the plurality of wavelengths is incident on the multivariate optical element, the multivariate optical element for transmitting the plurality of wavelengths with a respective weight coefficient depending on a specific spectral pattern of the chemical to be analyzed to achieve a multiplication of the specific spectral pattern, the spectroscopic device comprising a further optical element for performing a summation over a wavelength dimension of the plurality of wavelengths with a respective weight coefficient, the optical analyzer further comprising a single channel detector arranged to receive the summation wherein an output of the detector is directly indicative of a concentration of the chemical in the food and/or beverage.