Applications of non-destructive spectroscopic techniques for fish quality and safety evaluation and inspection

•We review spectroscopic techniques for fish quality evaluation and inspection.•VIS spectroscopy is suitable for measuring fish freshness quality.•IR spectroscopy is known as a complementary method for fish quality evaluation.•Raman spectroscopy is valuable for protein structures and lipid oxidation detection.•Spectral imaging has great potential for fish quality evaluation and inspection.

Fish quality and safety is a scientific discipline describing handling, preparation, processing, transportation and storage condition in ways that prevent food-borne illness and provide fish and fish products with premium quality for human health and the acceptance of consumers. However, it is well-known that fish is one of the most vulnerable and perishable aquatic products, and it serves as a growth medium for microorganisms that can be pathogenic or cause fish spoilage. Therefore, it is imperative to pay close attention to fish quality and safety. The traditional techniques and methods for evaluation and detection of fish quality and safety are tedious, laborious, expensive and time-consuming while spectroscopic techniques have successfully overcome some of these disadvantages and can supplement or replace them. There are growing interests in spectroscopic techniques due to high specificity, convenience, non-destructive, non-invasive, cost-effective and quick response. Spectroscopic techniques have shown great potentials for the detection of pathogens, foreign contamination, protein structure changes, and lipid oxidation, and for spoilage monitoring in fish in order to confirm whether it is safe for consumption and international trades or not. This review focuses on several valuable spectroscopic techniques including visible (VIS) spectroscopy, near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy, mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, and spectral imaging mainly related to hyperspectral imaging (HSI) and nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (NMRI). Moreover, the advantages and limitations of these techniques are noted and some perspectives about the current work are also presented.