Raw material identification or verification (of the packaging label) is a common quality-control practice. In the pharmaceutical industry, the increasing global
footprint of the supply chain and public health concerns1 resulting from contaminated materials (or mislabeling) have driven many regulatory bodies
to require inspection of every barrel in every shipment of materials used in the manufacture of pharmaceutical drugs. Handheld analytical instruments are
becoming more common for rapid and non-destructive testing of incoming raw materials directly in warehouses, reducing the cost and time needed for taking
samples to the laboratory and quarantining incoming shipments until lab testing is complete.
