Novel Spectroscopy Applications in Food Detection

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Science and Technology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 March 2022) | Viewed by 10725

Special Issue Editor

Quantum Metrology and Nano Technologies Department, INRIM - National Institute of Metrological Research, I-10135 Torino, Italy
Interests: chemical metrology; vibrational spectroscopy; food metrology; nanotechnology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The Raman spectroscopy (RS) technique relies on the irradiation of a sample by means of an intense laser radiation in the range of the visible, near-infrared or ultraviolet, and on the measurement of the electrons inelastically scattered from the sample itself. As a result, a spectrum (the “Raman spectrum”) is obtained whose shape is strongly dependent on the chemical properties of the analyzed sample and that can be considered as its specific “chemical fingerprint”, allowing the unambiguous identification of the analyzed molecules.
RS has multiple advantages that make it an outstanding candidate for the analysis of many samples, either in solid, liquid or gaseous state. Unlike infrared spectroscopy, Raman analysis is minimally affected by the water content of the sample, and it is therefore suitable for analysis in aqueous matrices, typical of many biological samples. Moreover, RS, if compared to other established and sensitive chemical techniques, is nondestructive, very rapid, and economic. Furthermore, portable instruments are available, thus enabling in situ analysis. Thanks to these properties, RS has gained a prominent role in many research fields, such as fundamental physics and chemistry, material sciences and nanotechnologies, and art, biological, medical, and pharmacological sciences.
This Special Issue aims at gathering prominent scientific works focused on the development of novel Raman-based approaches for rapid detection of analytes in a wide range of research areas, from food safety and traceability to biomedical application and nanotechnologies. We expect contributions concerning RS and its various declinations, such as surface-enhanced Raman (SERS), tip-enhanced Raman (TERS), hyper-Raman, coherent anti-stokes Raman (CARS), and stimulated Raman (SRS). Manuscripts aimed at these goals will be considered for publication.

Dr. Chiara Portesi
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • Raman spectroscopy
  • SERS
  • TERS
  • chemical analysis
  • food analysis
  • biochemical analysis
  • novel devices
  • in situ analysis
  • real-time detection
  • nanotechnology

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 2014 KiB  
Article
Aquaphotomics Reveals Subtle Differences between Natural Mineral, Processed and Aged Water Using Temperature Perturbation Near-Infrared Spectroscopy
by Yasuhiro Kato, Jelena Munćan, Roumiana Tsenkova, Dušan Kojić, Masato Yasui, Jing-Yu Fan and Jing-Yan Han
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(19), 9337; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app11199337 - 08 Oct 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2942
Abstract
Current approaches to the quality control of water are unsatisfying due to either a high cost or the inability to capture all of the relevant information. In this study, near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) with aquaphotomics as a novel approach was assessed for the discrimination [...] Read more.
Current approaches to the quality control of water are unsatisfying due to either a high cost or the inability to capture all of the relevant information. In this study, near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) with aquaphotomics as a novel approach was assessed for the discrimination of natural, processed and aged water samples. Temperature perturbation of water samples was employed to probe the aqueous systems and reveal the hidden information. A radar chart named an aquagram was used to visualize and compare the absorbance spectral patterns of waters at different temperatures. For the spectra acquired at a constant temperature of 30 °C, the discrimination analysis of different water samples failed to produce satisfying results. However, under perturbation by increasing the temperature from 35 to 60 °C, the absorbance spectral pattern of different waters displayed in aquagrams revealed different, water-specific dynamics. Moreover, it was found that aged processed water changed with the temperature, whereas the same processed water, when freshly prepared, had hydrogen bonded structures unperturbed by temperature. In summary, the aquaphotomics approach to the NIRS analysis showed that the water absorbance spectral pattern can be used to describe the character and monitor dynamics of each water sample as a complex molecular system, whose behavior under temperature perturbation can reveal even subtle changes, such as aging and the loss of certain qualities during storage. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Spectroscopy Applications in Food Detection)
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17 pages, 4253 KiB  
Article
Study of the Optimal Waveforms for Non-Destructive Spectral Analysis of Aqueous Solutions by Means of Audible Sound and Optimization Algorithms
by Pilar García Díaz, Manuel Utrilla Manso, Jesús Alpuente Hermosilla and Juan A. Martínez Rojas
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(16), 7301; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app11167301 - 09 Aug 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1313
Abstract
Acoustic analysis of materials is a common non-destructive technique, but most efforts are focused on the ultrasonic range. In the audible range, such studies are generally devoted to audio engineering applications. Ultrasonic sound has evident advantages, but also severe limitations, like penetration depth [...] Read more.
Acoustic analysis of materials is a common non-destructive technique, but most efforts are focused on the ultrasonic range. In the audible range, such studies are generally devoted to audio engineering applications. Ultrasonic sound has evident advantages, but also severe limitations, like penetration depth and the use of coupling gels. We propose a biomimetic approach in the audible range to overcome some of these limitations. A total of 364 samples of water and fructose solutions with 28 concentrations between 0 g/L and 9 g/L have been analyzed inside an anechoic chamber using audible sound configurations. The spectral information from the scattered sound is used to identify and discriminate the concentration with the help of an improved grouping genetic algorithm that extracts a set of frequencies as a classifier. The fitness function of the optimization algorithm implements an extreme learning machine. The classifier obtained with this new technique is composed only by nine frequencies in the (3–15) kHz range. The results have been obtained over 20,000 independent random iterations, achieving an average classification accuracy of 98.65% for concentrations with a difference of ±0.01 g/L. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Spectroscopy Applications in Food Detection)
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12 pages, 2345 KiB  
Article
Hyperspectral Chemical Imaging of Single Bacterial Cell Structure by Raman Spectroscopy and Machine Learning
by Giulia Barzan, Alessio Sacco, Luisa Mandrile, Andrea Mario Giovannozzi, Chiara Portesi and Andrea Mario Rossi
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(8), 3409; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app11083409 - 10 Apr 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2585
Abstract
In this work, biomolecules, such as membrane proteins, lipids, and DNA, were identified and their spatial distribution was mapped within a single Escherichia coli cell by Raman hyperspectral imaging. Raman spectroscopy allows direct, nondestructive, rapid, and cost-effective analysis of biological samples, minimizing the [...] Read more.
In this work, biomolecules, such as membrane proteins, lipids, and DNA, were identified and their spatial distribution was mapped within a single Escherichia coli cell by Raman hyperspectral imaging. Raman spectroscopy allows direct, nondestructive, rapid, and cost-effective analysis of biological samples, minimizing the sample preparation and without the need of chemical label or immunological staining. Firstly, a comparison between an air-dried and a freeze-dried cell was made, and the principal vibrational modes associated to the membrane and nucleic acids were identified by the bacterium’s Raman chemical fingerprint. Then, analyzing the Raman hyperspectral images by multivariate statistical analysis, the bacterium biological status was investigated at a subcellular level. Principal components analysis (PCA) was applied for dimensionality reduction of the spectral data, then spectral unmixing was performed by multivariate curve resolution–alternating least squares (MCR-ALS). Thanks to multivariate data analysis, the DNA segregation and the Z-ring formation of a replicating bacterial cell were detected at a sub-micrometer level, opening the way to real-time molecular analysis that could be easily applied on in vivo or ex vivo biological samples, avoiding long preparation and analysis process. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Spectroscopy Applications in Food Detection)
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14 pages, 47318 KiB  
Article
Portable Raman Spectrometer for In Situ Analysis of Asbestos and Fibrous Minerals
by Jasmine Rita Petriglieri, Danilo Bersani, Christine Laporte-Magoni, Mario Tribaudino, Alessandro Cavallo, Emma Salvioli-Mariani and Francesco Turci
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(1), 287; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app11010287 - 30 Dec 2020
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3159
Abstract
Asbestos inhalation is associated with fatal respiratory diseases and raises concerns from the perspective of workplace safety and environmental impacts. Asbestos and asbestos-like minerals naturally occur in rocks and may become airborne when outcrops or soils are disturbed by anthropic activities. In situ [...] Read more.
Asbestos inhalation is associated with fatal respiratory diseases and raises concerns from the perspective of workplace safety and environmental impacts. Asbestos and asbestos-like minerals naturally occur in rocks and may become airborne when outcrops or soils are disturbed by anthropic activities. In situ detection of these minerals is a crucial step for the risk evaluation of natural sites. We assess here whether a portable Raman spectrometer (pRS) may be used in the identification of asbestos and asbestos-like minerals at the mining front during exploitation. pRS performance was tested at three geologically different mining sites in Italy and New Caledonia and compared with a high-resolution micro-Raman spectrometer (HRS). About 80% of the overall in situ analyses at the mining front were successfully identified by pRS, even when intermixed phases or strongly disaggregated and altered samples were analyzed. Chrysotile and tremolite asbestos, asbestos-like antigorite, and balangeroite were correctly detected during surveys. The major difficulties faced during in situ pRS measurements were fluorescence emission and focussing the laser beam on non-cohesive bundles of fibers. pRS is adequate for discriminating asbestos and asbestos-like minerals in situ. pRS may support risk assessment of mining sites to better protect workers and environment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Spectroscopy Applications in Food Detection)
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