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Application of Spectroscopy and Chemometrics in Food Analysis

A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Analytical Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 14 September 2026 | Viewed by 712

Editor

Food Engineering, Yıldız Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey
Interests: vibrational spectroscopy; chemometrics; artificial intelligence; food integrity; sustainable food systems

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The increasing complexity of modern food systems, driven by globalized supply chains, authenticity challenges, and heightened consumer expectations for safety and sustainability, demands rapid, reliable, and non-destructive analytical approaches. Conventional laboratory-based methods, although accurate, are often time-consuming, labor-intensive, and unsuitable for real-time or on-site applications. In this context, spectroscopic technologies have emerged as powerful alternatives, enabling fast, environmentally friendly, and cost-effective assessment of food quality and composition with minimal sample preparation.

Vibrational spectroscopy techniques, including FTIR, NIR, MIR, Raman spectroscopy, and hyperspectral imaging, when integrated with chemometric modeling, multivariate analysis machine learning and artificial intelligence algorithms provide advanced solutions for interpreting complex food matrices. These approaches facilitate authentication, adulteration detection, traceability, process monitoring, and shelf-life prediction while supporting sustainable and digitalized food production systems. Portable and handheld spectroscopic devices further expand the potential for in-field and at-line applications across the farm-to-fork chain.

This Special Issue aims to gather high-quality original research articles, reviews, and methodological papers that present recent advances, innovative applications, and data-driven strategies combining spectroscopy, chemometrics and artificial intelligence models for food analysis. Contributions addressing both fundamental developments and practical industrial implementations are particularly welcome.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • FTIR, NIR, MIR, and Raman spectroscopy in food analysis
  • Hyperspectral and multispectral imaging
  • Chemometrics and multivariate data analysis
  • Machine learning and artificial intelligence for spectral data
  • Food authenticity, fraud, and adulteration detection
  • Quality control and process analytical technology (PAT)
  • Shelf-life prediction and freshness monitoring
  • Portable/handheld and on-site sensing technologies
  • Non-destructive and green analytical methods
  • Traceability and food integrity assessment
  • Applications in agricultural products and sustainable food systems

Dr. Nur Çebi
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • chemometrics
  • vibrational spectroscopy
  • FTIR
  • NIR
  • Raman
  • hyperspectral imaging
  • food authenticity
  • food integrity
  • non-destructive analysis
  • machine learning
  • multivariate analysis
  • rapid screening
  • portable sensors
  • process monitoring
  • sustainable food systems

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

22 pages, 8918 KB  
Article
FTIR Spectroscopy Coupled with Principal Component Analysis for Rapid Screening of Melamine Adulteration in Brown Rice Flour
by Cristina Pintilii, Leonard Mihaly Cozmuta, Zsolt Szakacs and Anca Mihaly Cozmuta
Molecules 2026, 31(11), 1912; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules31111912 - 2 Jun 2026
Viewed by 411
Abstract
Food adulteration with melamine represents a serious threat to food safety due to its toxic effects and its ability to falsely elevate protein values measured by nitrogen-based methods. Visual inspection and visible reflectance spectroscopy are unsuitable for identifying low-level adulteration. This study evaluates [...] Read more.
Food adulteration with melamine represents a serious threat to food safety due to its toxic effects and its ability to falsely elevate protein values measured by nitrogen-based methods. Visual inspection and visible reflectance spectroscopy are unsuitable for identifying low-level adulteration. This study evaluates Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy combined with chemometric tools for the identification of melamine in brown rice flour adulterated at 0–2.00% (w/w). Under the tested conditions, no clear FTIR-detectable interactions between melamine and starch or proteins were observed, suggesting that melamine primarily acts as a physical admixture. Characteristic melamine absorption bands were identified at 3466, 3415, 1431, and 810 cm−1. Spectral normalization and second-order derivative processing improved sensitivity and enabled quantitative calibration models. The method achieved a limit of detection of 1408 mg/kg. Although this value is above the regulatory threshold of 2.5 mg/kg, the approach provides a rapid, non-destructive screening tool for identifying highly adulterated samples and prioritizing them for confirmatory chromatographic or mass spectrometric analysis. Overall, FTIR spectroscopy combined with chemometric analysis offers an efficient first-line approach for identification of melamine adulteration in brown rice flour. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Spectroscopy and Chemometrics in Food Analysis)
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