Comparison of Miniaturized and Benchtop NIR Spectrophotometers for Quantifying the Fatty Acid Profile of Iberian Ham

Iberian ham is a highly valued product, and considerable efforts have been made to characterize it quickly and accurately. In this scenario, portable NIR devices could provide an effective solution for the assessment of its attributes. However, the calibration quality of NIR equipment is directly influenced by the relevance of the used spectral region. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the suitability of different NIR spectrometers, including four portable and one benchtop instrument, with varying spectral working ranges for quantifying the fatty acid composition of Iberian ham. Spectral measurements were carried out on both the muscle and the fat of the ham slices. The results showed that 24 equations with an RSQ > 0.5 were obtained for both the muscle and fat for the NIRFlex N-500 benchtop instrument, while 19 and 14 equations were obtained in the muscle and 16 and 10 equations in the fat for the Enterprise Sensor and MicroNIR, respectively. In general, more fatty acids could be calibrated when the spectra were taken from lean meat, except with the SCiO Sensor. Measurements performed in the lean and fat zones delivered complementary information. These initial findings indicate the suitability of using miniaturized NIR sensors, which are faster, are less expensive, and enable on-site measurements, for analyzing fatty acids in Iberian ham.