Hairunnizam, Leia Susannah (2025) Discrimination of food wrappers using atr-ftir spectroscopy and chemometrics. Project Report. Universiti Sains Malaysia. (Submitted)
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Abstract
Food wrappers are frequently encountered in daily life and at crime scenes but are often overlooked as trace evidence. Their chemical composition and physical characteristics can provide crucial information in forensic investigations. Nonetheless, the potential evidentiary value of food wrappers in forensic applications remains unexplored. Hence, this study evaluated the use of Attenuated Total Reflectance-Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy combined with chemometrics analysis to discriminate food wrappers from 15 different brands across three categories: junk food, chocolates, and candy. ATR-FTIR spectroscopy enabled rapid and non-destructive chemical analysis but revealed that many wrappers had similar polymer compositions within the same category, making differentiation challenging. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) alone was also insufficient for effective brand discrimination, as clustering primarily followed polymer type. Integration of PCA with Linear Discriminant Analysis (PCA-LDA) significantly improved classification accuracy, achieving 93.3% and 98.5% correct classification rates for the outer and inner wrapper layers, respectively. A blind test further validated the model’s reliability where all unknown samples were correctly classified. These findings highlighted the potential of ATR-FTIR spectroscopy combined with chemometrics as a powerful forensic tool for distinguishing food wrappers. By enabling the discrimination between specific brands, this method demonstrated the evidential value of food wrappers, supporting its use as corroborative trace evidence in forensic investigations
| Item Type: | Monograph (Project Report) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Food wrappers |
| Subjects: | R Medicine R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA1001 Forensic Medicine. Medical jurisprudence. Legal medicine |
| Divisions: | Kampus Kesihatan (Health Campus) > Pusat Pengajian Sains Kesihatan (School of Health Sciences) > Monograph |
| Depositing User: | MUHAMMAD AKIF AIMAN AB SHUKOR |
| Date Deposited: | 28 Oct 2025 04:37 |
| Last Modified: | 17 Nov 2025 07:07 |
| URI: | http://eprints.usm.my/id/eprint/63106 |
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