Adulterated Powdered White Pepper Products by Tapioca Flour Sold in Indonesian’s Online Market Investigated by Simple FTIR Analytical Method

Powdered pepper is very susceptible to be adulterated by flour. Adulteration of online-marketed powdered pepper product by tapioca flour was investigated by employing the FTIR technique. Powdered pepper products sold in five online market of Indonesia were surveyed then the FTIR spectra of some pepper products representing different pepper product categories were examined. By using the linear correlation between the concentration of powdered pepper and the normalized absorbance intensity of FTIR then the relative purity of powdered pepper products was determined. Result showed that out of 15 pepper products, 3 powdered pepper products (sample C, D and M) were confirmed being added by other ingredients, however, they cannot be classified being adulterated since their label says that they contain ingredients other than pepper. One product (sample K) in the category of powdered pepper products having brand and their label says that it is made of ground pepper was suspected being adulterated in which its relative purity was 67.3%. Based on this result, FTIR can be used as a fast and reliable analytical method to detect adulteration of powdered pepper product by tapioca flour