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 microg 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. Relativ…