An ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography-electrospray-tandem mass spectrometry method was developed for the determination of 36 phenolic compounds in paprika. The proposed method showed good method performance with limits of quantitation between 0.03 and 50 μg/L for 16 compounds and between 50 μg/L and 1 mg/L for 12 compounds. Good linearity (R2 > 0.995), run-to-run and day-to-day precisions (%RSD values < 12.3 and < 19.2%, respectively), and trueness (relative errors < 15.0%) were obtained. The proposed method was applied to the analysis of 111 paprika samples from different production regions: Spain (La Vera PDO and Murcia PDO) and Czech Republic, each one including different flavor varieties (sweet, bittersweet, and spicy). Phenolic profiles and concentration levels showed to be good chemical descriptors to achieve paprika classification and authentication according to the production region by principal component analysis and partial least squares regression-discriminant analysis. In addition, perfect classification among flavor varieties for Murcia PDO and Czech Republic samples was also obtained.
Keywords: Food authentication; Food classification; Paprika; Partial least squares regression-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA); Phenolic compounds; Principal component analysis (PCA); UHPLC-ESI-MS/MS.