Classification of some heat-treated liver pastes according to container type, using heavy metals content and manufacturer’s data, by principal components analysis and potential curves

A total of 115 pork liver pastes were randomly collected in local markets from different brands, countries and containers. The concentrations of nine heavy metals (Cu, Ni, Cd, Fe, Mn, Pb, Cr, Co and Zn), determined by atomic absorption spectrometry, and some qualitative variables described on the labelling constituted the data set. Chemometrics analysis was performed combining principal components analysis (PCA), factor analysis (FA) and typical classification techniques, such as linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and potential curves (PoCu) to classify pork liver pastes. Origin of the sample, manufacturer and effect of manufacturing process were taken into account to verify traceability, which is an important issue in food safety policies.