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

## TL;DR

This study shows that combining Raman and IR spectroscopy with chemometrics can rapidly and non-destructively analyze fatty acid composition in marine oils.

## Contribution

The novel contribution is demonstrating improved accuracy in fatty acid quantification by fusing IR and Raman spectroscopy data.

## Key findings

- Fusion of IR and Raman data improved ω-3 fatty acid predictions (r2 = 0.96; RMSEP = 1.9%).
- Combined spectroscopy enhanced PUFA and SFA quantification with moderate accuracy.
- Raman and IR spectroscopy individually showed high accuracy for ω-3 fatty acid predictions.

## Abstract

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.