Abstract
In this work, non-targeted approaches relying on HPLC-UV chromatographic fingerprints were evaluated to address coffee characterization, classification, and authentication by chemometrics. In general, high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection (HPLC-UV) fingerprints were good chemical descriptors for the classification of coffee samples by partial least squares regression-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) according to their country of origin, even for nearby countries such as Vietnam and Cambodia. Good classification was also observed according to the coffee variety (Arabica vs. Robusta) and the coffee roasting degree. Sample classification rates higher than 89.3% and 91.7% were obtained in all the evaluated cases for the PLS-DA calibrations and predictions, respectively. Besides, the coffee adulteration studies carried out by partial least squares regression (PLSR), and based on coffees adulterated with other production regions or variety, demonstrated the good capability of the proposed methodology for the detection and quantitation of the adulterant levels down to 15%. Calibration, cross-validation, and prediction errors below 2.9%, 6.5%, and 8.9%, respectively, were obtained for most of the evaluated cases.
Highlights
The quality of natural products is an issue of great interest in our society
An adequate chromatographic elution program to obtain good high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection (HPLC-UV) fingerprints was optimized, taking into consideration that polyphenols and related compounds are quite abundant in coffee and they could serve as the basis of sample discriminations
As regards to the coffee set of samples 2 (Figure S5b), locations of the samples depending on the roasting factor followed a similar pattern, with the less roasted samples clustered at the left part of the plot, and with the most roasted coffee samples (5/5 roasting degree) at the top-right area. These results demonstrate that chromatographic fingerprints can be proposed as good descriptors to address coffee samples characterization and classification according to the coffee region of origin, the coffee variety (Arabica vs. Robusta), and the coffee roasting degree
Summary
The quality of natural products is an issue of great interest in our society. Taking into account the food chain complexity and the various factors involved between food production and consumption, food handling and adulteration practices are increasing. In this sector, fraud is defined as a form of conscious deception about the quality of a food product for profit, and adulteration is defined as the partial replacement of food of certain quality by another similar with lower quality and price. The determination of the authenticity of the food is a very important issue in quality control and food safety [1,2,3,4].
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