Use of near-infrared spectroscopy and chemometrics for fast discrimination of Sargassum fusiforme

Edible marine algae, often referred to as seaweeds, have health benefits and nutritional value. Origin discrimination of seaweeds is essential for quality assurance and traceability. As a rapid, easy, and economical method, near-infrared spectroscopy (NIR) was used in this study to investigate its ability to identify Sargassum fusiforme according to geographical origin, cultivar, and production method. A potential particle swarm optimization-support vector machine (PSO-SVM) identification model was constructed and exhibited its superiority in the origin determination of S. fusiforme. Results showed that the correct recognition rates were 90.00% for geographical origin, 100.00% for cultivar, and 100.00% for production method, when the PSO-SVM models were validated using the test sets. Overall, the results proved the potential of NIR spectroscopy combined with PSO-SVM models as a fast analytical method to trace the origin of S. fusiforme in terms of geographical origin, cultivar, and production method.