VIABILIDADE DA ESPECTROMETRIA DE EMISSÃO ÓPTICA COM PLASMA INDUZIDO POR LASER (LIBS) PARA DISCRIMINAÇÃO MULTIVARIADA DE SAIS ALIMENTÍCIOS

Resumo

In the present study, the feasibility of Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) was investigated to analyze the main constituent chemical elements of 29 edible salt samples from Germany, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Cyprus, United States of America, France, the Himalayas, Iran and Pakistan. Such salts comprise iodized refined, iodized marine, ground iodized marine, hyposodic iodized marine, unrefined gourmet, Himalayan gourmet, yolk salt and food additive. The LIBS technique identified and evaluated the elements Al, Ca, Sr, Fe, Mg, Mn, K and Na. The data set obtained by LIBS was used in the developed multivariate classification model, principal components analysis (PCA). In the PCA 4 principal components (PC) were defined, which explain 83.77% of the spectral information matrix that were used to discriminate the origin and identify profiles of edible salts in national and imported salts and hyposodium salts. LIBS then proves to be a tool for origin indication analysis or origin determination, being capable of identifying possible tampering. Therefore, LIBS classification analyzes are very promising and represent a simplification in the handling and preparation of samples for analysis.