Advances in Raman spectroscopy and imaging techniques for quality and safety inspection of horticultural products

This paper gives an overview of Raman technology for inspecting quality and safety of horticultural products. Emphasis is put on introduction and demonstration of Raman spectroscopy and imaging techniques for practical uses to assess the horticultural products. Raman scattering principles are presented first, followed by introduction and comparison to Raman measurement techniques, such as backscattering Raman spectroscopy, transmission Raman spectroscopy, spatially offset Raman spectroscopy, Raman chemical imaging, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy, etc. Raman measurement instruments, including excitation sources, wavelength separation devices, detectors, commercial integrated and custom-developed systems, and system calibration methods, are discussed and compared. Raman data analysis methods, such as data preprocessing, spectral mixture analysis, and quantitative analysis, are presented with examples for analyzing Raman spectral and image data of selected horticultural products including tomato and carrot. Raman spectroscopy and imaging applications for quality and safety evaluation of the horticultural products are also reviewed.