Application of genetic algorithm and multivariate methods for the detection and measurement of milk‐surfactant adulteration by attenuated total reflection and near‐infrared spectroscopy

BACKGROUND The adulteration of milk by hazardous chemicals like surfactants has recently increased. It conceals the quality of the product to gain profit. As milk and milk‐based products are consumed by many people, novel analytical procedures are needed to detect these adulterants. This study focused on Fourier‐transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy equipped with an attenuated total reflection (ATR) accessory, and near‐infrared (NIR) spectroscopy for the determination of milk‐surfactant adulteration using a genetic algorithm (GA) coupled with multivariate methods. The model surfactant was sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), and its concentration varied from 1.94–19.4 gkg−1 in adulterated samples. RESULTS Prominent peaks in the spectral range of 5500–6400 cm−1, 1160–1260 cm−1 and 1049–1080 cm−1 may correspond to the sulfonate group in SDS. A genetic algorithm could significantly reduce the number of variables to almost one third by selecting the specific wavenumber region. Principal component analysis (PCA) for ATR and NIR data indicated separate clusters of samples in terms of the concentration level of SDS (P ≤ 0.05). Partial least squares regression (PLSR) was used to determine the maximum R2 value for ATR and NIR data for calibration, cross‐validation and prediction, which were 0.980, 0.972, 0.980, and 0.970, 0.937, and 0.956 respectively. The results showed apparent differences between unadulterated and adulterated samples using partial least squares‐discriminant analysis (PLS‐DA), which was validated by the permutation test. CONCLUSION The results clearly show the successful application of the proposed methods with multivariate analysis in the selection of variables, classification, clustering, and identification of the adulterant in amounts as low as 1.94 gkg−1 in milk. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry