LAUSR

This presentation will focus on the advantages of Raman microspectroscopy and its applicability for use in solving food industry challenges. The benefits of Raman spectroscopy are numerous and include the ability to non-destructively analyze samples in-situ, without any interference from water, while obtaining results in real-time without modification of the sample. Traditional microscopy utilizes stains to help identify protein, fat or carbohydrates in food samples; however, Raman microspectroscopy allows the user to not alter the sample or the ingredients location while still being able to detect and identify each of these ingredients at the same time. The inherent advantage of Raman microspectroscopy is that one can characterize the vibrational modes of all the ingredients being used in the product by evaluating neat samples first, and then looking for conserved vibrational modes in the complex finished food product itself. A great example of the viability of this technique is that certain ingredients that cannot be stained for, such as flavor compounds or additives, can still be identified within the sample since the spectroscopic data can be analyzed by looking for key vibrational modes that are characteristic of these ingredients.