Quantification of Matcha Adulterants with Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy

The determination of adulterant content in matcha is crucial for ensuring food safety and protecting consumer rights. Rapidly detecting the content of matcha adulterants poses technical challenges due to its powdered form. This section presents an introduced method based on laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS). The method is applied to two different grades of matcha adulterants, and comprehensive descriptions are provided for sample preparation, LIBS analysis, and data analysis. Two sample preparation techniques, compression and filtration, are employed in this study. Both methods are applicable for powdered samples, and the data presented in this case are obtained using the filtration method. Data analysis is conducted using machine learning algorithms to accurately predict the content of adulterants in matcha. The results demonstrate the capability of the described method in enabling fast quantification of matcha adulterants.