**4. Conclusions**

In this study, the use of an SI method to compare the NIR spectra of different animal species was evaluated. The SI method has shown that it can be used as an alternative to other classification methods available such as linear discriminant analysis. Overall, these results indicate that SI combined with NIR spectroscopy can distinguish meat samples sourced from different animal species (e.g., traditional vs. wild meat species). In future, we can expect that methods such as SI will improve the implementation of NIR spectroscopy in the meat and food industries as an authentication tool that is quick, handy, and affordable for customers.

**Author Contributions:** L.C.H., D.B. and D.C. were involved in the data collection, D.C. was responsible for the data analyses and interpretation. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** Internal University of Queensland Institutional funds. The support of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic (MZE-RO0718) is also acknowledged.

**Institutional Review Board Statement:** Not applicable.

**Informed Consent Statement:** Not applicable.

**Data Availability Statement:** The data are available from the corresponding author.

**Acknowledgments:** The authors wish to acknowledge and thank the staff of QAAFI for their help and use of their facilities during the collection of the data.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
