Recent advances and applications of laser-based imaging techniques in food crops and products: a critical review

AbstractTo meet the growing demand for food quality and safety, there is a pressing need for fast and visible techniques to monitor the food crop and product production processing, and to understand the chemical changes that occur during these processes. Herein, the fundamental principles, instruments, and characteristics of three major laser-based imaging techniques (LBITs), namely, laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry, are introduced. Additionally, the advances, challenges, and prospects for the application of LBITs in food crops and products are discussed. In recent years, LBITs have played a crucial role in mapping primary metabolites, secondary metabolites, nanoparticles, toxic metals, and mineral elements in food crops, as well as visualizing food adulteration, composition changes, pesticide residue, microbial contamination, and elements in food products. However, LBITs are still facing challenges in achieving accurate and sensitive quantification of compositions due to the complex sample matrix and minimal laser sampling quantity. Thus, further research is required to develop comprehensive data processing strategies and signal enhancement methods. With the continued development of imaging methods and equipment, LBITs have the potential to further explore chemical distribution mechanisms and ensure the safety and quality of food crops and products.Keywords: Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopylaser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometryRaman spectroscopyfood cropsfood productsimaging Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by the [Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China] under Grant [number 2018YFD0700502]; [National Natural Science Foundation of China] under Grant [number 62105290, 32202031]; [China Postdoctoral Science Foundation] under Grant [number 2022M722813]; and [Basic Scientific Research Project of China Jiliang University] under Grant [number 2023YW21].