Discrimination of Chili Powder Origin Using Inductively Coupled Plasma–Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS), Inductively Coupled Plasma–Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES), and Near Infrared (NIR) Spectroscopy

Abstract

This study investigated the content of macronutrients (Ca, K, Mg, Na, P, and S), trace elements (Ba, Be, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ga, Li, Mn, Ni, Rb, Se, Sr, V, and Zn), and trace toxic elements (As, Cd, In, Pb, and Tl) in chili powder from Korea, China, and Vietnam. For the analyses, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) were used. In addition, near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy was used to differentiate functional groups based on the chemical constituents. For the validation of the applied analytical methods, good linearity (coefficients of determination, 0.9443–0.99997), and relative standard deviations below 4% were obtained. The contents of the toxic elements were below the provisional tolerable weekly intake values. Linear discriminant analysis using elemental contents and NIR data was performed to establish and authenticate the geographical origin of chili powder, which confirmed the reliability of the obtained results.

Keywords:

• Chili powder
• inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (ICP-MS)
• inductively coupled plasma–optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES)
• linear discriminant analysis (LDA)
• near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS)

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The authors acknowledge the funding (grant no. KE1601-4 and KE1701-5) provided for the present study by the World Institute of Kimchi, Republic of Korea.