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. 2025 Mar 30:469:142562.
doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2024.142562. Epub 2024 Dec 20.

Near-infrared spectroscopy for comprehensive analysis of dark chocolate composition

Eszter Benes  1 , Gergely Matejka  2 , Marietta Fodor  3
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Free article

Near-infrared spectroscopy for comprehensive analysis of dark chocolate composition

Eszter Benes et al. Food Chem. .
Free article

Abstract

Fat, sugar, theobromine, and caffeine are important compounds in chocolates that influence the physico-chemical and sensory characteristics of the products. These parameters commonly are determined with conventional, time-consuming, environmentally pollutant methods. In this study, near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) coupled with partial least square regression (PLSR) was used to predict the quantity of these compounds. Fat-free cocoa content was calculated based on the alkaloid concentration, while measured fat content was also used for the cocoa content. Prediction models have also been developed for these parameters. The determination coefficient (R2) of the models were as follows: R2cv fat 0.98, theobromine 0.94, caffeine 0.76, sucrose 0.92, cocoa 0.98. The root mean square error (RMSE) was found to be relatively low compared to the determined values (RMSECV fat 1.08 %, theobromine 0.42 mg/g, caffeine 0.1 mg/g, sucrose 3.42 %, cocoa content 1.93 %). Therefore, NIRS can be suitable for the analysis of the quality of dark chocolate.

Keywords: Alkaloids; Chocolates; Cocoa content; Fat; HPLC; NIRS; Sucrose.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Marietta Fodor reports administrative support and statistical analysis were provided by Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Marietta Fodor reports a relationship with Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences that includes: employment. Marietta Fodor has patent - licensed to -. - If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. Founding This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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