Development of hyperspectral imaging coupled with chemometric analysis to monitor K value for evaluation of chemical spoilage in fish fillets.

K value is an important freshness index widely used for indication of nucleotide degradation and assessment of chemical spoilage. The feasibility of hyperspectral imaging (400-1000 nm) for determination of K value in grass carp and silver carp fillets was investigated. Partial least square (PLS) regression and least square support vector machines (LS-SVM) models established using full wavelengths showed excellent performances and the PLS model was better with higher determination coefficients of prediction (R(2)P = 0.936) and lower root mean square errors of prediction (RMSEP = 5.21%). The simplified PLS and LS-SVM models using the seven optimal wavelengths selected by successive projections algorithm (SPA) also presented good performances. The spatial distribution map of K value was generated by transferring the SPA-PLS model to each pixel of the images. The current study showed the suitability of using hyperspectral imaging to determine K value for evaluation of chemical spoilage and freshness of fish fillets.