Short Communication: The potential of portable near infrared spectroscopy for assuring quality and authenticity in the food chain, using Iberian hams as an example

• Published in: Animal (Cambridge, England) Vol. 13; no. 12; pp. 3018 - 3021
• Main Authors: Piotrowski, C, Garcia, R, Garrido-Varo, A, Pérez-Marín, D, Riccioli, C, Fearn, T
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Limited 01.12.2019; Elsevier
• Subjects: Abattoirs; Accuracy; Analytical chemistry; Animals; Authenticity; Calibration; Carcasses; Classification; counterfeiting; Deoxyribonucleic acid; DNA; Fats; Fatty acid composition; Fatty acids; Fatty Acids - chemistry; Food Analysis - methods; Food chains; Gas chromatography; Iberian ham; Infrared instruments; Infrared spectroscopy; Laboratories; Linoleic acid; Meat Products - analysis; Methods; Miniaturization; Near infrared radiation; near infrared spectroscopy; Oleic acid; Palmitic acid; Pork; Portability; Provenance; Quality; Quality assessment; Quality assurance; slaughterhouse; Software; Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared - methods; Spectrum analysis; Standard error; Stearic acid; Subcutaneous Fat - chemistry; Swine; United States > US; Spain; Iberian ham; near infrared spectroscopy; classification; counterfeiting; slaughterhouse
• ISSN: 1751-7311; 1751-732X
• DOI: 10.1017/S1751731119002003

This communication assesses the use of a portable near infrared (NIR) instrument to measure quantitative (fatty acid profile) properties and qualitative ('Premium' and 'Non-premium') categories of individual Iberian pork carcasses at the slaughterhouse. Acorn-fed Iberian pigs have more unsaturated fats than pigs fed conventional compound feed. Recent advances in miniaturisation have led to a number of handheld NIR devices being developed, allowing processing decisions to be made earlier, significantly reducing time and costs. The most common methods used for assessing quality and authenticity of Iberian hams are analysis of the fatty acid composition of subcutaneous fat using gas chromatography and DNA analysis. In this study, NIR calibrations for fatty acids and classification as premium or non-premium ham, based on carcass fat measured in situ, were developed using a portable NIR spectrometer. The accuracy of the quantitative equations was evaluated through the standard error of cross validation or standard error of prediction of 0.84 for palmitic acid (C16:0), 0.94 for stearic acid (C18:0), 1.47 for oleic acid (C18:1) and 0.58 for linoleic acid (C18:2). Qualitative calibrations provided acceptable results, with up to 98% of samples (n = 234) correctly classified with probabilities ⩾0.9. Results indicated a portable NIR instrument has the potential to be used to measure quality and authenticity of Iberian pork carcasses.