Desenvolvimento de métodos para avaliação química de amostras vegetais através de imagens digitais

Abstract

The current trend for health promotion promotes the search for functional and safe food for health, for which it is necessary to have effective quality control during food production and processing. In this sense, the food industries have instinctively sought clean alternatives that allow the execution of faster, easier-to-apply processes and that reduce analysis costs, through the use of equipment or technologies that cause less environmental impact and are easy to handle. in the steps of extraction and quantification of the compounds of interest. Some methods used in food quality control are based on colorimetric methodology with the use of a spectrophotometer in the visible region, in general these methods demand elaboration and preparation time, use large amounts of sample and chemical solvents during the procedure. New alternatives have been developed that seek to replace the spectrophotometer with portable equipment, such as the smartphone, which relate the concentration of analytes to the intensity of color, allowing the performance of analyzes in loco and accessible, as most individuals use them in their daily lives. , without the need to invest in sophisticated equipment. In this sense, the method of using digital images based on a smartphone was used for the determination of total phenolic compounds and determination of paraquat. The results obtained from the proposed methods showed adequate accuracy, precision and good agreement compared to conventional methods from 98.4 to 103.8% for the method of determination of phenolic compounds and from 95 to 107% for the method of determination of paraquate, as well as providing the miniaturization of the method, lower energy consumption, proving to be a less aggressive alternative to the environment, with a relatively lower cost compared to those commonly used and in accordance with the principles of green chemistry.