Analytical approaches for food authentication using LIBS fingerprinting

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is a widely acknowledged elemental analysis approach used in various study domains due to its rapid measurement capability and minimal sample-preparation requirements. Recently, there has been an increase in interest in the applications of LIBS in the realm of food safety and quality. Given that the majority of commonly consumed foods exhibit only modest trace-element variations, discovering predictive spectral patterns through multivariate analysis is crucial for the data-analysis pipeline. The efficacy of multivariate analysis and machine-learning algorithms to identify the most predictive spectral features, conduct class recognition and classification was evaluated in this paper, utilizing both a custom-developed benchtop LIBS system and a commercially available portable one. Specifically, this study's objective was to evaluate the performance of spectral variable selection using elastic-net multinomial logistic regression. The data processing pipeline and the LIBS hardware were evaluated in the context of food authentication and identification, a rising field of research addressing the issue of food fraud. Our findings indicated that classifying food samples with carefully selected fewer variables reduces model overfitting and improves the accuracy of LIBS pattern classification. In a broader sense, the results support the continued development of field-deployable, portable LIBS equipment designed for food authentication and fingerprinting activities.