Cuttlefish Species Authentication: Advancing Label Control through Near-Infrared Spectroscopy as Rapid, Eco-Friendly, and Robust Approach

Abstract

Accurate species identification, especially in the fishery sector, is critical for ensuring food safety, consumer protection and to prevent economic losses. In this study, a total of 93 individual frozen–thawed cuttlefish samples from four different species (S. officinalis, S. bertheloti, S. aculeata, and Sepiella inermis) were collected from two wholesale fish plants in Chioggia, Italy. Species identification was carried out by inspection through morphological features using dichotomic keys and then through near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) measurements. The NIRS data were collected using a handled-portable spectrophotometer, and the spectral range scanned was from 900–1680 nm. The collected spectra were processed using principal component analysis for unsupervised analysis and a support vector machine for supervised analysis to evaluate the species identification capability. The results showed that NIRS classification had a high overall accuracy of 93% in identifying the cuttlefish species. This finding highlights the robustness and effectiveness of spectral analysis as a tool for species identification, even in complex spatial contexts. The findings emphasize the potential of NIRS as a valuable tool in the field of fishery product authentication, offering a rapid and eco-friendly approach to species identification in the post-processing stages.

Multi-Omics Approaches for Freshness Estimation and Detection of Illicit Conservation Treatments in Sea Bass (Dicentrarchus Labrax): Data Fusion Applications

“…All the cited methods are known to be time-consuming and destructive, often not suitable in the context of field analysis. Therefore, non-destructive, cheap, and rapid techniques, such as near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy, have also been recently applied [3][4][5][6][7]. However, the use of omics techniques is certainly useful for deeper characterization of fish freshness since it is characterized by complex processes that can be influenced by several endogenous (e.g., spoilage) and exogenous (e.g., undeclared freezing/thawing treatment, adulteration with illicit additives, etc.…”