Applications of Infrared Spectroscopy to Biochemical, Food, and Agricultural Processes

Abstract

Integrated investigations on infrared spectroscopic characteristics of metabolites and on applications of infrared spectroscopy to foodstuff production, food processing, and tasting are described. As the important metabolites, saccharides, which play very important roles in various functions, located in the central position of the metabolic pathways, were selected, and the spectral features of the saccharides and related materials are discussed. Additionally, the applications of spectral analysis to the monitoring of the enzyme reaction and the sugar metabolic processes, which are the main materials in food processing, are described. Furthermore, the studies on the spectroscopic measurements during the cultivation of agricultural products as foodstuffs and in the tasting as the final quality evaluation of foods are represented. These results suggest that infrared spectroscopy could be very effective for evaluating foodstuff production and the tasting of the processed foods and that the applied topics should provide fundamental information about the spectral behavior of the metabolites and bioproducts.