Advances in Ultraviolet and Visible Light Spectroscopy for Food Authenticity Testing

Consumers demand both quality and safety in their foodstuffs. The presence on the retail market of adulterations and frauds is increasing interest in control activities, traceability, and labeling of products. Ultraviolet and visible (UV–VIS) spectroscopy is one of the analytical laboratory techniques investigated for quantitative and qualitative authentication of foodstuffs. Advances in chemometric tools and instrumental technology allow the use of UV–VIS spectroscopy for authentication of geographical origin, varietal identification, purity determination, and quality determination of foodstuffs such as meat, fish, seafood, oils, spices, tea, mushroom, rice, juices, wine, and beer. In this chapter, recent advances, uses, and application examples of UV–VIS spectroscopy for food authenticity testing are reported and discussed.