Krill
oil contains eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic
acid (DHA), long chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids with essential
roles in human health, and astaxanthin, a naturally occurring keto-carotenoid
that protects EPA+DHA against oxidation. Here, we assess Raman and
IR spectroscopy (as stand-alone techniques and paired using three
different data-fusion approaches) as methods for simultaneous quantitation
of EPA+DHA and astaxanthin in krill oil. Raman spectroscopy could
accurately (RMSEP = 40 μg g–1, r
2
p = 0.98) quantitate astaxanthin
in krill oil despite its low concentrations (212–693 μg
g–1). This analysis could be performed directly
through gelatin capsules with no loss of prediction accuracy (RMSEP = 27 μg g–1, r2
p = 0.99). Fusing IR and Raman data did not improve the astaxanthin
quantitation models. EPA+DHA quantitation was more accurate using
“mid-level” fusion (RMSEP = 1.2%, r
2
p = 0.99) than models from either
Raman (RMSEP = 4.5%, r
2
p = 0.90) or IR (RMSEP = 7.3%, r
2
p = 0.73). Data fusion also significantly
improved quantitation accuracy for quantification of other fatty acid
classes.