Maca adulteration detected with VideometerLab

Maca root (Lepidium meyenii) is a plant that grows in the high Andean mountains of Peru and Bolivia, and is known for its medicinal properties. However, maca root products are sometimes adulterated with other plants such as turnip. This can be a problem for consumers who are seeking the specific health benefits of maca root, but are unknowingly consuming an adulterated product.

In a new paper, a research group investigated the use of VideometerLab to detect adulteration of maca root slices and powders with turnip. The study found that the technique was able to clearly distinguish between maca and turnip, with predictive accuracies of up to 100% using machine learning models.

The authors concluded:

The results demonstrated that clear differences between Maca and turnip could be easily visualized by PCA. The predictive accuracies by SVM model for Maca and turnip slices were 98.33% and 100%, respectively, and the predictive accuracies by GA-SVM and BPNN model could be as high as 100%. The other is the identification of Maca powder. […] In conclusion, the research results provide a method for the rapid and non-destructive identification of Maca authenticity.

This research provides a promising method for the rapid and non-destructive identification of maca root authenticity, which can help ensure that consumers are getting the products they expect. With the use of VideometerLab, it is possible to detect adulteration in a cost-effective and efficient manner, making it an ideal tool for manufacturers and quality control laboratories in the food and supplement industry.