As organic food becomes more popular and expensive, many sellers falsely label regular farm produce as “organic” to charge higher prices. This makes it hard for consumers to trust what they’re buying. Even some sellers at Gujarat Vidyapith were found selling non-organic items with fake organic labels.
Innovation by ISRO Scientist
Madhusudan Patel, a retired scientist from ISRO, Ahmedabad, has developed a special device called a spectrometer. This tool can quickly check whether fruits, vegetables, grains, pulses, or even flowers are grown using chemical fertilisers or not. It can also identify whether items like chilies and paneer (cottage cheese) are truly organic or have been adulterated. The test cost is very low—just around 50 paise to ₹1.
Faster Than Traditional Certification
To get an official organic certificate from the Gujarat Organic Products Certification Agency (GOPCA), farmers have to wait for three years. But many farmers sell their products as “organic” before getting certified, misleading customers. This spectrometer can prevent such fraud by quickly verifying product quality on the spot.
Special Features for Beekeeping and Honey
Patel has also built a device to help beekeepers. It checks the quality of honey collected from forest-based hives by identifying its ingredients and protein levels. The system can track the hive’s location, how much honey has been collected, and whether the bees are healthy or stressed, based on their movement.
Bees can also detect pollen from fields even one kilometer away due to their powerful sense of smell. This ability, combined with the spectrometer, adds another layer of natural detection.
Checking Seeds for Quality
The spectrometer can also test the quality of seeds. It helps buyers know if the seeds are real or adulterated. Fake seeds can ruin an entire crop season and cause heavy losses to farmers—sometimes even leading to farmer suicides.
A Low-Cost, Powerful Tool for Farmers and Consumers
This innovation by the ISRO scientist offers a simple, affordable way to ensure that organic labels are real and agricultural products are safe. It brings a new level of trust and quality control to the food we eat and the materials farmers use.
