Non-targeted metabolite profiling to evaluate the drying process effect in the Peruvian maca actives through principal component analysis

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of the drying process on Peruvian maca flours. The analysis was done using a non-targeted metabolite profiling approach through principal components analysis (PCA) to evaluate the different ions detected by an ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled to a hybrid quadrupole time-of-flight high-resolution mass spectrometer. In this case, only the positive ions were considered. The spectra were acquired after methanolic extraction, and the data was organized in a matrix form. PCA allowed to find out the main substances responsible for differentiating between the drying processes, showing that oven drying mainly influences the amount of amino acids and glucosinolates. It was also possible to note that some macamides were still detectable after oven drying, and the main alkaloids also remained after heating. Therefore, this study offers a feasible method for metabolomics for food authentication.