Non-destructive fluorescence spectroscopy combined with second-order calibration as a new strategy for the analysis of the illegal Sudan I dye in paprika powder

•Sudan I determination in intact paprika samples.•A new method based on non-destructive fluorescence is proposed.•Better results were achieved by second-order calibration (U-PLS and N-PLS).•U-PLS and N-PLS solved the lack of trilinearity in EEMs caused by color variation. This paper presents a novel strategy for determination of the illegal dye Sudan I in paprika powder. The method is based on fluorescence spectroscopy combined with second-order calibration, which was employed for the first time for this purpose. The method is non-destructive and requires no sample preparation. It was probed that Sudan I exhibited fluorescence; however, the color of paprika samples affected the signal and it was not possible to quantify this adulterant by means of univariate and first-order calibration. To model the effect of variability of color in samples, a central composite experimental design was performed with varying ASTA (American Spices Trade Association) color values and Sudan I concentrations. Different second-order algorithms were tried for quantification. The best results for calibration and validation were obtained from Unfolded-Partial Least-Squares (U-PLS) and Multi-way Partial Least-Squares (N-PLS). The level of detection ranges were 0.4 – 3 mg/g and 0.5 – 3 mg/g for U-PLS and N-PLS, respectively. This was lower than other methods found in the literature.