Application of infrared spectroscopy for the prediction of nutritional content and quality assessment of faba bean (Vicia faba L.)

With growing consumer interest and demand for health-benefiting functional foodssuch as faba beans, particularly evident in developed countries, commercial produc-tion of this crop is increasing. In concert with increased production levels comes anequally great need for the inexpensive rapid measurement of nutritional parametersfor quality determining purposes. As an analytical tool, near-infrared spectroscopyhas been well explored for the quantification of proximate nutritional composition,such as protein, starch and oil contents in faba bean and faba bean-derived products.Near-infrared spectroscopy has also been demonstrated to have potential for thenoninvasive prediction of low-level micronutrients such as the total polyphenol con-tent in faba bean and faba bean-derived products, although further exploration in thisarea is required to provide a more acceptable model. In some instances, the authorsmay be inadvertently measuring micronutrient concentrations through a secondarycorrelation with certain macronutrients. It is particularly difficult to determine if thisis the case if exacerbated by the lack of an independent validation test set in thepaper in question. The associated technique of mid-infrared spectroscopy shows par-ticular promise for the rapid, noninvasive characterisation of structural componentsof faba bean, such as carbohydrates and proteins. Complementary applications ofthese two technologies are likely to yield a wealth of potential applications.