A rapid detection method for aquatic product quality has been developed based on Raman spectroscopy for the...

This study combines Raman spectroscopy with chemometrics to detect adenine, guanine, thymine, cytosine, and uracil in tuna using gold-plated probes with surface-attached silver nanocubes (Ag NCs). A partial least squares (PLS) model was developed for nucleic acid base analysis, showing high predictive performance (correlation coefficients >0.9937). Tuna stored at -18 °C for 120 days showed DNA degradation, indicated by gel electrophoresis. The Surface-enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) method was more sensitive and convenient than the High-performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) for detecting free nucleobases. The Thiobarbituric Acid (TBA) content correlated positively with free nucleobase contents measured by SERS (R² = 0.9695) and HPLC (R² = 0.9382), suggesting SERS can monitor frozen tuna quality by detecting nucleic acid degradation. SERS with chemometrics is a promising tool for assessing frozen aquatic product quality, offering a novel approach for real-time tuna quality monitoring and quality evaluation of other frozen foods.