An FDA scientist tests glycerin, a common raw ingredient in medicine, on a loading dock using a portable Raman spectrometer. Portable rapid spectroscopic technologies, which analyze the dispersion of an object's light to determine the object's chemical or molecular composition, may hold the key to a new era of product-safety screening. By allowing investigators to screen products earlier in the supply chain, these portable devices could significantly cut risks from contamination or counterfeiting of medicines, dietary supplements, cosmetics, and perhaps even foods.