Discrimination of cassava, taro, and wheat flour using near-infrared spectroscopy and chemometrics

Abstract

There is a difference in the selling price for cassava, taro, and wheat flour, with taro flour having a higher price. It could be a reason for adulterating the taro flour from the other two flours and reducing quality. This study aims to distinguish the three types of flour using the near-infrared (NIR) spectra combined with chemometrics. The NIR spectra of all samples were measured at a wavelength of 1000-2500 nm. The multivariate analysis used was principal component analysis (PCA), and PCA followed with discriminant analysis (DA). The preliminary process of the signal using area normalization was carried out before the multivariate analysis. The PCA results showed that most of the samples were grouped in their respective groups except for two samples, namely 1 sample of taro flour and 1 sample of cassava flour. Meanwhile, the PCA-DA results using seven main components showed that the three samples were grouped well. DA validation was carried out using the cross-validation method, showing that the samples could be identified into their respective groups. Therefore, a combination of NIR spectrum and chemometric analysis can be used to differentiate cassava, taro, and wheat flour