Mid-Infrared Spectroscopy (MIR) for Simultaneous Determination of Fat and Protein Content in Meat of Several Animal Species

The aim of this research was to study the application of MIR spectroscopy as an alternative to conventional methods to determine fat and protein content. Samples of the main species used to produce meat products were analyzed, showing all of them absorption bands at similar wavenumbers though with different intensity. Correlation analysis of absorption intensities showed that bands around 2925, 2854, and 1746 cm−1 are associated with fat content, whereas bands around 3288, 1657, and 1542 cm−1 are associated with proteins. During the validation process, prediction models of fat and protein content were successfully obtained with R2 0.9173 and 0.7534, respectively. Finally, a good result (R2 = 0.8829) was obtained on the estimation of the lipid content when the information at only one wavenumber was used.