Abstract
Society's interest in the quality of food products with certain attributes has increased, the attribute of a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) being an effective tool to guarantee the quality and geographical origin of a given food product. In Spain, two paprika production areas with PDO (La Vera and Murcia) are recognized. In the present work, targeted UHPLC-HRMS polyphenolic and capsaicinoid profiling through the TraceFinderTM screening software, using homemade accurate mass databases, was proposed as a source of chemical descriptors, to address the characterization, classification, and authentication of paprika. A total of 126 paprika samples from different production regions-Spain (La Vera PDO and Murcia PDO) and the Czech Republic, each including different flavor varieties, were analyzed. UHPLC-HRMS polyphenolic profiles showed to be good chemical descriptors to achieve paprika classification and authentication, based on the production region, through principal component analysis and partial least squares regression-discriminant analysis, with classification rates of 82%, 86%, and 100% for La Vera PDO, Murcia PDO, and the Czech Republic, respectively. In addition, a perfect classification was also accomplished among the flavor varieties for the Murcia PDO and Czech Republic samples. By employing the UHPLC-HRMS polyphenolic and capsaicinoid profiles as chemical descriptors, acceptable discrimination among La Vera PDO flavor varieties was also achieved.