Evaluation of the Potential of Mid‐Infrared Spectroscopy to Assess the Microbiological Quality of Ham

Abstract

The accurate reliable detection and identification of microorganisms in food is critical to public safety. Consequently, it is extremely important to develop rapid and inexpensive methods for the detection of food microorganisms in order to minimize or even replace the traditional analysis methods that are expensive and time-consuming. In this study, the potential of mid-infrared spectroscopy was evaluated, for the first time, to detect changes in colony forming units of microorganisms in freshly cut ham along the time. A partial least squares regression model was performed and a good linear relationship was obtained between spectra information and microbial load. It was concluded that infrared spectroscopy easily and quickly allows the separation of ham samples according to their microbial content and could be used to predict the microbial concentration from the spectra, using the fingerprint region (1,200-950 cm −1 ), without sample preparation or handling. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONSAs it is essential to avoid infections caused by foodborne bacteria, it is important to develop a rapid, low cost and easy to perform technique to face the increasing demands of the food industry. Mid-infrared spectroscopy, coupled to multivariate analysis, has potential to be used as a first-screening approach and to assess the microbial concentration in ham samples, avoiding the traditional plating methods that are time-consuming.

Antimicrobial Activity of Oregano Essential Oil Incorporated in Sodium Alginate Edible Films: Control of Listeria monocytogenes and Spoilage in Ham Slices Treated with High Pressure Processing

“…As shown in Figure 11, major peaks are observed at 3650–3100 cm –1 , due to the presence of water in the samples, at 1748 cm −1 due to esters from lipids and at 1650 cm –1 due to moisture and amide I bands of the proteins. The spectra collected were similar to those reported previously for ham in the spectral region from 1730 to 850 cm –1 [58]. Other minor intensity peaks are observed at 2925 (–CH 2 asymmetric stretch), 2853 (aliphatic –CH 2 groups of fatty acids), 1154 (CO–O–C asymmetric stretch, glycogen and nucleic acids), and 1040–1042 cm −1 (primary amines, C–N stretch, C–O stretch, polysaccharides) [59,60,61].…”

Evaluation of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and multispectral imaging as means of estimating the microbiological spoilage of farmed sea bream

“…Several non-invasive/non-destructive techniques have been evaluated as propitious in fish quality assessment, including spectroscopic techniques and imaging technology approaches Sun, 2015, 2017;Cheng et al, 2015b;Hassoun and Karoui, 2017;Liu et al, 2013;Pérez-Esteve et al, 2014). Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy is a biochemical fingerprinting technique which, in conjunction with multivariate data analysis, has shown significant potential in the detection and quantification of spoilage bacteria in muscle foods, including fresh meat and poultry and processed meat products (Argyri et al, 2013;Cheng and Sun, 2015;Moreirinha et al, 2015;Sahar and Dufour, 2014). Multispectral imaging (MSI), an optical sensing technique which combines spectral and spatial information (Carstensen et al, 2006), has also been proposed as a promising rapid and non-invasive technology for the assessment of the microbiological spoilage of muscle foods (Dissing et al, 2013;Panagou et al, 2014;Tsakanikas et al, 2016).…”

Protein Expression Modifications in Phage-Resistant Mutants of Aeromonas salmonicida after AS-A Phage Treatment

“…In order to access the spectral differences of sensitive A. salmonicida colonies and phage resistant mutant colonies, mid-infrared spectroscopy was used, as it was previously described [ 15 , 24 ]. They were used for the A. salmonicida phage resistant colonies A, B and C (from Section 4.3 ).…”

“…It has also been successfully used to detect modification in proteins and lipids extracted from bacteria after exposure to a stress [ 21 ], and to study DNA structure [ 22 ]. Another advantage is the possibility of studying the whole cell, without the need to extract cellular components [ 23 , 24 ]. This methodology has already been used to discriminate phage-resistant from phage-susceptible bacteria [ 15 ].…”