Exploring the feasibility of multi-element fingerprinting with chemometrics for discriminating the geographical origins of asparagus and its risk assessment.

This study explored the efficacy of multielement analysis combined with element fingerprints and chemometrics to discriminate the geographical origins of asparagus (Asparagus officinalis L.). It investigated the potential health hazards of long-term intake of asparagus. 19 elements were set as variables, and the geographical origin discrimination analysis was conducted through element fingerprints and chemometrics. The principal component analysis (PCA) provided no clear regional delineations, while in orthogonal partial least square discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) provided clear regional delineations. The final model has high predictive and cross-validation accuracies were maintained, underscoring the robustness and algorithm flexibility of elemental profiling for accurately identifying the geographical origins of asparagus. Health risk assessment based on the total target hazard quotient (THQ) value of heavy metals of Pb, Cd, As, Hg, Cu, Cr and cancer risk (CR) value of metals of Pb, Cd, As, Cr indicated that consumption of asparagus had certain risk to human health.