A nondestructive approach for discrimination of the origin of sesame seeds using ED-XRF and NIR spectrometry with chemometrics.

An energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (ED-XRF) spectrometer and a near infrared (NIR) spectrometer combined with chemometrics were applied for origin discrimination of 48 Korean, 44 Chinese, and 21 Indian sesame seed samples used for development of a discriminant calibration model. Multi-elemental ED-XRF analysis based on Mg, Al, Si, P, S, Cl, K, Ca, Mn, Fe, and Cu was used for comparisons among origins. All elements, except for Fe, showed differences and 96.5% of seed samples were assigned to the correct origin using discriminant analysis based on chemical analytical results. NIR measurements were performed for spectral scanning. Classification of seeds using NIR discriminant analysis achieved 89.4% of seed samples assigned to the correct origin. Both ED-XRF and NIR are useful as nondestructive tools for discrimination of sesame seed origins.