Apparatus and method for multimode analytical sensing of items such as food

A method for inspecting at least one biological sample, comprising:

• determining a plurality of inspection modes for inspecting the at least one biological sample using a multimode inspection apparatus;
• determining an inspection protocol for inspecting the at least one biological sample, wherein the inspection protocol comprises inspection settings for the plurality of inspection modes;
• inspecting the at least one biological sample using the multimode inspection apparatus according to the protocol;
• and
• altering the protocol based on inspection results for multiple biological samples.

A biological sample inspection apparatus configured to inspect a biological sample for issues, comprising:

• illumination hardware comprising transmission and sensing hardware configured to illuminate and sense attributes of the biological sample, the illumination hardware configured to inspect the biological sample using multiple inspection configurations from at least one of a fluorescence imaging mode, a reflectance imaging mode, a scattering imaging mode, and a Raman imaging mode;
• and
• processing hardware configured to operate the illumination hardware according to a protocol comprising inspection settings for the multiple inspection configurations, wherein the processing hardware receives scan results from the illumination hardware and identifies attributes of the biological sample;
• wherein the processing hardware is configured to employ the attributes of at least one biological sample and alter the protocol based on the attributes of the one biological sample.