Effects of Simulated Degradation Conditions on the Authentication of Fresh Quail Eggs Using a Miniaturized NIR Spectrometer and DD-SIMCA

Abstract

This study developed a reliable and non-destructive analytical method for quality control of quail eggs under simulated degradation conditions, including temperature variations and UV radiation exposure, using a miniaturized near-infrared (NIR) spectrometer combined with Data-Driven Soft Independent Modeling of Class Analogy (DD-SIMCA). A total of 336 quail egg samples were evaluated, with 90 samples stored under optimal conditions for up to 14 days, while the remaining 246 samples underwent controlled storage at temperatures of 30 and 40 °C for 24, 48, and 72 h, and were exposed to UV irradiation for 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, and 4 h. DD-SIMCA models utilizing NIR spectra pre-processed with multiplicative scatter correction (MSC) and Savitzky-Golay first derivative (SGD) achieved remarkable sensitivity and specificity of 100% in the test set, demonstrating an effective and low-cost technology for ensuring the authenticity of fresh quail eggs.

Keywords:
Cortunix cortunix japonica; food storage; quality control; vibrational spectroscopy; pattern recognition; one class classification