Identification of individual goat animals by means of near infrared spectroscopy and chemometrics analysis of commercial meat cuts

Although the identification of animal species and muscles have been reported previously, no studies have been found on the use of NIR spectroscopy to identify individual animals from the analysis of commercial meat cuts. The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of a portable near infrared (NIR) instrument combined with classical chemometrics methods [principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares discriminant analysis PLS-DA)] to identify the origin of individual goat animals using the spectral signature of their commercial cut. Samples were collected from several carcasses (6 commercial cuts x 24 animals) sourced from a commercial abattoir in Queensland (Australia). The NIR spectra of the samples were collected using a portable NIR instrument in the wavelength range between 950 and 1600 nm. Overall, the PLS-DA models correctly classify 82% and 79% of the individual goat samples using either the goat rack or loin cut samples, respectively. The study demonstrated that NIR spectroscopy was able to identify individual goat animals based on the spectra properties of some of the commercial cut samples analysed (e.g. loin and rack). These results showed the potential of this technique to identify individual animals as an alternative to other laboratory methods and techniques commonly used in meat traceability.