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Whatʼs in this drink? Classification and adulterant detection in Irish Whiskey samples using near infrared spectroscopy combined with chemometrics
Author(s) -
Power Aoife C,
Jones John,
NiNeil Caoimhe,
Geoghegan Sive,
Warren Susan,
Currivan Sinead,
Cozzolino Daniel
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of the science of food and agriculture
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 142
eISSN - 1097-0010
pISSN - 0022-5142
DOI - 10.1002/jsfa.11174
Subject(s) - adulterant , chemometrics , partial least squares regression , principal component analysis , near infrared spectroscopy , consumables , chromatography , chemistry , food science , analytical chemistry (journal) , mathematics , statistics , physics , quantum mechanics
BACKGROUND Near‐infrared (NIR) spectroscopy coupled with principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares (PLS) regression was used to analyse a series of different Irish Whiskey samples in order to define their spectral profile and to assess the capability of the NIR method to identify samples based on their origin and storage (e.g. distiller, method of maturation). The ability of NIR spectroscopy to quantify the level of potential chemical adulterants was also investigated. Samples were spiked with 0.1%, 0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5% and 2.0% v/v of each adulterant (e.g. methanol, ethyl acetate, etc.) prior to NIR analysis. RESULTS The results of this study demonstrated the capability of NIR spectroscopy combined with PLS regression to classify the whiskey samples and to determine the level of adulteration. Moreover, the potential of NIR coupled with chemometric analysis as a rapid, portable, and non‐destructive screening tool for quality control, traceability, and food/beverage adulteration for customs and other regulatory agencies, to mitigate beverage fraud was illustrated. CONCLUSION Given the non‐specificity of the NIR technique, these positive preliminary results indicated that this method of analysis has the potential to be applied to identify the level of adulteration in distilled spirits. The rapid nature of the technique and lack of consumables or sample preparation required allows for a far more time and cost‐effective analysis per sample. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry.