Fats and oil adulteration in the food industry is a recurring problem that negatively impacts the quality and safety of the food product. Efforts to ensure fats and oil authentication has involved investigating different analytical methods of adulteration detection. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) is reported to be the favorable method when coupled with chemometrics. Focusing on halal food as a compulsory dietary requirement for Muslims, concerns regarding halal authenticity of fats and oil have been highlighted. This study aimed to compare halal fats with lard. The objective of this study was to identify the lipid profile of lard using FTIR analysis, compare the lipid profile of lard with halal fats and oil and to determine the differences of lipid profile between halal fats and oil and lard through chemometric analysis. The FTIR analysis was successful in obtaining a lard profile. FTIR data was then analyze through principal component analysis (PCA). Clear separations on the score plot between the different fats and oil samples. This study showed that lipid profile is highly similar to halal fats and oils but can be differentiated through chemometrics. PCA is a suitable tool to support FTIR analysis in differentiating fats and oils.

Plastic has become one of the major contributors to the world’s pollution. As it may degrade into smaller particles known as microplastics (<5 mm), which has become a new threat towards marine ecosystems. Due to their size, microplastics can easily enter the food chain due to seafood consumption, entering the digestive system. Moreover, microplastics also bring negative impact towards freshwater biota and sea life. Despite the extensive studies on microplastic contamination in the marine environment, research on microplastic in seafood and freshwater environments, specifically regarding ingestion and effect of microplastics in aquatic organisms, freshwater biota as well as human health along the supply chain are still scarce. Microplastic ingestion in aquatic animals causes health hazards such as leaking gut, transferring pathogenic bacteria into the blood and increasing toxic levels in the body. This scenario could potentially introduce similar hazards to human health if consumed. This paper reviewed the sources, detection method, allocation and adverse effects of microplastics contamination in seafood and freshwater ecosystems. The focus of this review is on biota which includes samples of aquatic animals as well as seawater samples from various sources including riverine (river), lacustrine (lake) and wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) throughout the world. Since microplastics are related to synthetic substances from waste, there is an alarming concern regarding their physical and chemical compounds that might be present in the aquatic life and food supply chain. Therefore, recommendations and improvements on future studies of microplastic contamination in marine ecosystems regarding identification and quantification protocol along with the study on microplastics towards the freshwater organism also are addressed in this paper