The Visualization of latent fingerprints on fruits and vegetables

The development of latent prints on fruits and vegetables has become a great area of interest in forensic science. These everyday food items which are often overlooked for forensic evidence can be a great source of latent prints. This experiment was conducted to determine the effectiveness of three different fingerprint powders and to visualize these sebaceous fingerprints on selected fruits and vegetables at different time intervals. Black powder, Supra Nano Fluorescent Green powder, a new experimental powder were used to recover the latent fingerprints. Apples, onions, potatoes, and tomatoes were used as the substrate to which the sebaceous fingerprints were laid. The results showed that the extent of fingerprint visualization differed with each powder and each substrate. The new powder which was made by mixing three different substances, varied the most for all the surfaces; the black powder worked better on dry surfaces; and the supra nano powder was the most visible. Fingerprint recovery and visualization was not affected by time for all substrates except for the tomato. Fingerprints were able to be recovered up to two weeks after deposition