Near-infrared spectroscopic technique for detection of beef hamburger adulteration

A near-infrared spectroscopic technique was developed to detect beef hamburgers adulterated with 5-25% mutton, pork, skim milk powder, or wheat flour with an accuracy up to 92.7%. The accuracy of detection increased with the increase of adulteration level. When an adulterant was detected, the adulteration level was further predicted by calibration equations. The established calibration equations for predicting adulteration levels with mutton, pork, skim milk powder, and wheat flour had standard errors of cross-validation of 3.33, 2.99, 0.92, and 0.57% and coefficients of variance of 0.87, 0.89, 0.99, and 1.00, respectively. The results of this study indicate that near-infrared spectroscopy is potentially useful in detection of beef hamburger adulteration.