Feasibility of Application of Near Infrared Reflectance (NIR) Spectroscopy for the Prediction of the Chemical Composition of Traditional Sausages

In the present study, the potential of application of near infrared reflectance (NIR) spectroscopy for the estimation of the chemical composition of traditional (village style) sausages was examined. The chemical composition (moisture, ash, protein and, fat content) was determined by standard reference methods. For the development of the calibration model, 39 samples of traditional fresh sausages were used, while for external validation, 10 samples of sausages were used. The correlation coefficients of calibration (RMSEC) and standard errors (SEC) were 0.92 and 1.58 (moisture), 0.77 and 0.18 (ash), 0.87 and 0.89 (protein) and 0.93 and 1.73 (fat). The cross-validation correlation coefficients (RMSECV) and standard errors (SECV) were 0.86 and 2.13 (moisture), 0.56 and 0.26 (ash), 0.78 and 1.17 (protein), and 0.88 and 2.17 (fat). The results of the calibration model showed that NIR spectroscopy can be applied to estimate with very good precision the fat content of traditional village-style sausages, whereas moisture and protein content can be estimated with good accuracy. The external validation confirmed the ability of NIR spectroscopy to predict the chemical composition of sausages.