Mid-Infrared Spectroscopy (MIR)

Mid-infrared spectroscopy (MIR) has revolutionised the approach to food integrity analysis as a non-destructive and non-invasive technique. In terms of instrumentation, it can be found in desktop or portable forms and it is quick, highly sensitive and robust technique, providing a comprehensive array of spectral data that encode the molecular structure of the food sample. MIR can rapidly determine the molecular fingerprint of foods from various industry sectors, including dairy, meat, vegetable oil, wine, and beverages with applications ranging from compositional to authenticity analysis. Moreover, integrating MIR with multivariate ‘machine learning’ analysis (aka ‘chemometrics’) enables advanced features such as real-time quality control in production to address issues related to food integrity. Several challenges are faced when using MIR spectroscopy as the main analytical tool for determining food integrity: appropriate signal interpretation, technological constraints, operational challenges, issues related to training of staff and culture change in the industry, capital cost considerations, and the inherent intricacies of the food supply chain. For MIR spectroscopy, the inherent attributes of accuracy and reproducibility make it an important technique to support safe, authentic foods, products with consistent quality, and customer confidence in the agri-food supply chain. This is especially true factoring the fast- pacing advances in both instrumentation and data analysis.