This study aimed to discriminate between the geographical origins of Asian red pepper powders distributed in Korea using Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy coupled with multivariate statistical analyses. Second-derivative spectral data were obtained from a total of 105 red pepper powder samples, 86 of which were used for statistical analysis, and the remaining 19 were used for blind testing. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) test confirmed that eight peak variables exhibited significant origin-dependent differences, and the canonical discriminant functions derived from these variables were used to correctly classify all the red pepper powder samples based on their origins. The applicability of the canonical discriminant functions was examined by performing a blind test wherein the origins of 19 new red pepper powder samples were correctly classified. For simplicity, the four most significant variables were selected as discriminant indicator variables, and the applicable range for each indicator variable was set for each geographical origin. By applying the indicator variable ranges, the origins of the red pepper powders of all the statistical and blind samples were correctly identified. The study findings indicate the feasibility of using FT-IR spectroscopy in combination with multivariate analysis for identifying the geographical origins of red pepper powders.
Keywords: discriminant analysis; fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy; geographical origin; red pepper powder; second-derivative spectrum.