Combined Analysis of Inorganic Elements and Sugars for the Identification of Red Pepper Powder Containing Undeclared Ingredients

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This study sought to identify adulterated red pepper powder (RPP) containing undeclared ingredients, such as salts, glucose, Monascus red pigments, and other plant ingredients(e.g., wheat flour, garlic powder, onion powder) using element and sugar analysis methods. Analytical data were obtained for 66 samples of authentic RPP and 12 samples of artificially manufactured RPP. The variables selected to best identify the authenticity of RPP include Na, Cl, K, maltohexaose, and maltoheptaose, which partly or totally originate from RPP, salts, or Monascus red pigments. Collectively, our findings suggest that combined analyses of the above five constituents could be used to identify adulterated RPP containing undeclared ingredients.