*5.4. Data Processing and Statistical Analysis*

The data were processed according to the method described in the references [33]. The MS chromatograms spectra of 42 samples were processed for alignment, data reduction, and normalization by Xcalibur 3.0 software (Thermo Fisher Scientific, San Jose, CA, USA), the data were imported into Microsoft Excel to carry out peak area normalization after being processed by Compound Discoverer 2.0, and the processed data were exported to SIMCA-P software (ver. 13.0; Umetrics, Umeå, Sweden) for data analysis. A list of the intensities of detected peaks was generated using the retention time (*tR*) and the mass data (*m*/*z*) pairs to identify each peak. An arbitrary ID was assigned to each *tR–m*/*z* pair in the order of their UPLC elution to facilitate data alignment. This procedure was repeated for each run. Ions from different samples were considered to be identical when they had the same *tR* (tolerance within 0.01 min) and *m*/*z* (tolerance within 0.01 Da). If a peak was not detected in a particular sample, that ion intensity was recorded as zero.
