Introduction to laser induced breakdown spectroscopy imaging in food: Salt diffusion in meat

- LIBS for displaying salt diffusion in beef via sodium (Na) imaging.
- Pre-processing with baseline correction and normalization.
- Conversion of spectral data into hypercubes.
- Image processing with EBImage package in R.
- Images successfully illustrated salt diffusion process in beef.

This study illustrates the ability of laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) to detect and map minerals in food. A LIBS system was used to spatially collect spectra of beef samples. Samples were brined in a 6% salt solution for 2 h and 24 h along with a control sample. Samples were measured by scanning the cross-section of each sample in a 90 × 90 square grid. Sodium (Na) distribution images with respect to emission peak at 589.05 nm were generated after pre-processing the spectral data which directly corresponds to salt levels. As expected, the control sample showed the lowest Na distribution whereas 2 h brined sample showed distribution along the sample's edges decreasing towards the centre. The 24 h brined sample showed increased diffusion. Overall, results show the ability of LIBS to map salt diffusion in meat via Na LIBS imaging, which could be used to optimize brining conditions.