ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the fundamentals of hyperspectral and multispectral imaging, including the principles, system components and set-up, potentials, limits, advantages and disadvantages. Fundamental vibrations of molecules generally originate from absorption in the infrared (IR) region, while spectra in the near IR region comprise of overtones and combination tones. Overtones and combination tones are much less likely to occur than the fundamentals, and thus absorption is usually 10–100 times lower for first overtones with subsequent overtones and combinations continuing to decrease in strength. Hyperspectral imaging is a technique that enables the acquisition of both spatial and spectral information from an object. Food analysis is vital for the entire food industry and all those affiliated with it. The chemical analysis of food is the subject area concerning the development, application and study of analytical techniques to characterise food and agricultural products.
