Near infrared spectroscopy and food authenticity

Developments in both hardware (eg, sensors, computers, instruments) and software (eg, new algorithms) have resulted in the growth of analytical and instrumental methods based in vibrational spectroscopy techniques such as Near Infrared (NIR) and Mid Infrared (MIR). These methods have been extensively used to qualitatively (eg, traceability and authenticity) and quantitatively (eg, measure composition) analyze several food matrices (Arvantoyannis et al., 2005; Karoui et al., 2010; Weeranantanaphan et al., 2011; Cozzolino, 2009, 2012; Downey, 2013). Food authenticity is a well-established field of research, which involves input from different analytical techniques such as Gas Chromatography (GC), Mass Spectrometry (MS), NMR, DNA fingerprinting, and vibrational spectroscopy (NIR, MIR, Raman) (Cordella et al., 2002; Downey, 2013). However, there still remains a division over which analytical strategy to use in order to develop methods to target specific authenticity issues, identify adulterant in food products, or develop nontargeted methods with the aim of detecting deviations from the norm (Downey, 2013). This chapter will provide a general introduction to NIR spectroscopy and chemometrics. In addition, examples on the applications and uses of NIR spectroscopy targeting issues related with authenticity and traceability in several food products such as fish, meat, honey, and wine will be discussed.