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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Environmental Microbial & Food Safety Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #335646
Research Project: Sensing Technologies for the Detection and Characterization of Microbial, Chemical, and Biological Contaminants in Foods

Location: Environmental Microbial & Food Safety Laboratory

Title: Raman spectroscopy

Author
item SAGAR, DHAKAL - Forest Service (FS)
item Qin, Jianwei - Tony Qin
item Kim, Moon
item Chao, Kuanglin - Kevin Chao

Submitted to: Book Chapter
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/20/2017
Publication Date: 5/10/2017
Citation: Dhakal, S., Qin, J., Kim, M.S., Chao, K. 2017. Raman spectroscopy. In: Franca, A.S., Nollet, L.M.L., editors. Spectroscopic Methods in Food Analysis. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. p. 111-142.

Interpretive Summary: This book chapter presents an overview of Raman spectroscopy and imaging methods and technology for use in assessing food safety and quality. Rapid growth and advancement in Raman spectroscopy techniques have been seen in both academia and the food industry, particularly for applications requiring highly precise and non-destructive measurements for either qualitative or quantitative detection purposes. The chapter includes discussion of some custom-designed systems for implementing Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy, Spatially Offset Raman Spectroscopy, and Raman Chemical Imaging for food and agricultural research and industry applications. Further development of instrumentation, improvement in techniques, advances in data analysis, and development of more comprehensive databases of Raman spectra for a wider range of food materials will greatly expand the practical use of Raman spectroscopy and imaging techniques for evaluating food safety and quality in the future. This organized review of current developments in Raman technology will serve as a useful reference for industry and government groups seeking to evaluate and/or implement the methods presented for real-world use in food processing environments.

Technical Abstract: Raman spectroscopy has gained increased use and importance in recent years for accurate and precise detection of physical and chemical properties of food materials, due to the greater specificity and sensitivity of Raman techniques over other analytical techniques. This book chapter presents Raman spectroscopy technology and its use for evaluating food and agricultural products. Following a brief description on components of Raman spectroscopy instrumentation, discussion is presented on Raman spectroscopy measurement techniques (backscattering Raman spectroscopy, transmission Raman spectroscopy, spatially offset Raman spectroscopy, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy, and Raman imaging spectroscopy), Raman image acquisition methods (point-scan and line-scan methods), spectra data analysis techniques (pre-processing Raman spectral data, qualitative and quantitative analysis), and illustrative examples of practical applications in food safety and quality detection applications.