Advancing the Analysis of Fatty Acid Composition in Animal-Based Marine Oils Through the Integration of Raman and IR Spectroscopy with Chemometrics

This study investigated the use of Raman and IR spectroscopy, individually and combined, for quantifying fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) profiles in animal-based marine oils and potential adulterants (palm oil, ω-3 concentrates in ethyl ester, and generic fish oil). FAME profiles are important for assessing oil quality, conventionally determined via gas chromatography. This study aimed to provide a rapid and non-destructive alternative. The study utilized Partial Least Squares Regression (PLSR) alongside Raman (r² = 0.94; RMSEP = 2.4%) and IR spectroscopy (r² = 0.95; RMSEP = 2.3%), demonstrating similar ω-3 fatty acid predictions. Fusion of IR and Raman spectroscopic datasets improved ω-3 fatty acid (r² = 0.96; RMSEP = 1.9%), polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) (r² = 0.83; RMSEP = 4.0%), and saturated fatty acids (SFA) (r² = 0.79; RMSEP = 4.1%) quantification. The study highlights that fusion of IR and Raman spectroscopic datasets presents a promising avenue for non-destructive fatty acid composition assessment.