Dates (Phoenix dactylifera L.) is one of mankind’s oldest cultivated plants. It is known to be the most important fruit tree particularly in the Middle Eastern and Asian countries due to its natural sources of nutrition. The element composition of 10 commercially available dates and its pit samples purchased from local market were determined and evaluated using multivariate analysis technique. Samples were digested using nitric acid and hydrochloric acid and analyzed using Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES). Potassium, magnesium, calcium and sodium were found to be the major elements in both flesh and pit samples. Comparison between minor elements in both samples showed that the flesh samples contained higher levels of aluminium, barium and selenium while other minor elements were higher in the pit samples. Principal Components Analysis (PCA) and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were performed on multivariate dataset of the flesh and the pit samples separately to observe the relationship between samples.

Malaysia is a tropical country that has a rich diversity of fruits. Fruits are sources of many essential elements, proximate composition and minerals that play vital roles in the proper development and good health of the human body. This study aimed at evaluating the content of mineral elements; macro and micro elements. Fruit samples were obtained from the local farm located at Bagan Datuk, Perak, Malaysia. The results obtained by chemical analysis were evaluated statistically with the majority of the fruit samples were rich in some of the essential minerals like sodium, potassium, calcium, iron, magnesium, copper, manganese and zinc. The data were subjected to chemometric assessment to understand the association between the elements concentration and to classify the fruit samples according to their minerals content. The principal components analysis (PCA) clearly showed a good separation of samples in terms of mineral constituents. The results fall within the limits. � BEIESP.