Authentication of Maltese Pork Meat Unveiling Insights Through ATR-FTIR and Chemometric Analysis

Ensuring the authenticity of meat products is a critical issue for consumer protection, regu- latory compliance, and the integrity of local food systems. In this study, attenuated total reflectance Fourier-transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy combined with chemomet- ric and machine learning models was applied to differentiate Maltese from non-Maltese pork. Spectral datasets were subjected to a range of preprocessing techniques, including Savitzky–Golay first and second derivatives,...