Chemometric determination of arsenic and lead in untreated powdered red paprika by diffuse reflectance near-infrared spectroscopy

It has been evaluated the potential of near-infrared (NIR) diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) as a way for non-destructive measurement of trace elements at μg kg⁻¹ level in foods, with neither physical nor chemical pre-treatment. Predictive models were developed using partial least-square (PLS) multivariate approaches based on first-order derivative spectra. A critical comparison of two spectral pre-treatments, multiplicative signal correction (MSC) and standard normal variate (SNV) was also made. The PLS models built after using SNV provided the best prediction results for the determination of arsenic and lead in powdered red paprika samples. Relative root-mean-square error of prediction (RRMSEP) of 23% for both metals, arsenic and lead, were found in this study using 20 well characterized samples for calibration and 13 additional samples as validation set. Results derived from this study showed that NIR diffuse reflectance spectroscopy combined with the appropriate chemometric tools could be considered as an useful screening tool for a rapid determination of As and Pb at concentration level of the order of hundred μg kg⁻¹.