Food Authenticity Applications

Food authentication, application of stable isotope tracers, characterization of complex metallobiomolecules, and investigation of their role in biological processes are all areas in which ICP-MS can play a more and more critical role. Speciation will continue to be a very dynamic field of investigation and the integration of speciation and metabolism studies with the use of stable isotopes as species-specific tracers is likely to become a research area of vital importance. On... 

In the first part of this chapter, a briefly description of European regulations Authenticity and Traceability The European Union Point of View) and trace-ability and authenticity markers Authenticity and Traceability A Scientific Point of View) is reported. The second part is split into two sections namely Food Traceability and Food Authenticity applications, where the main features and advantages of some chemometrics approaches are presented. 

Abstract The application of isotope effect studies to problems in geochemistry and geology, meteorology, environmental studies, archeology and paleobotany, food authentication, medical diagnostics and various other practical areas is described using numerous examples. 

One of the earliest applications of ICP-based techniques in food authenticity was the determination of the trace element composition of orange juice [16]. This work successfully showed that, using ICP-AES, it was possible to distinguish between juice produced in Florida and Brazil, utilising only five of the 32 elements measured. 

G. Fortunato, K. Mumic, S. Wunderli, L. Pillonel, J. O. Bosset, G. Gremaud, Application of strontium isotope ratios measured by MC-ICP-MS for food authentication, J. Anal. Atom. Spectrom., 19 (2004), 227-234. 

G. Remaud (1993) Technical improvements of SNIF-NMR application to mustard oil. In 2" European Symposium Food Authenticity - Isotope Analysis and Other Advanced Analytical Techniques, 20-22 October 1993, Eurofins, Nantes (France)... 

One of the applications of this method is in food authentication. Lopez-Calleja et al. (2007) used the real-time PCR method to quantitatively detect goat milk present in sheep milk based on the amplification of the 12S ribosomal RNA gene, in order to prevent this type of food adulteration [62]. Similarly, Chisholm et al. (2005) used the method to detect horse and donkey meat in commercial products [63]. They used primers designed for the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene. This method, which enabled the detection of 1 pg donkey and 25 pg horse DNA templates, worked satisfactorily with model food samples. 

Table 4 Applications of e-nose analysis in food authenticity assessment...

Table 14.3 Selected applications of food authentication based on isotopic analysis by means of ICP-MS.

The second part of the book—Chapters 9-12— presents some selected applications of chemometrics to different topics of interest in the field of food authentication and control. Chapter 9 deals with the application of chemometric methods to the analysis of hyperspectral images, that is, of those images where a complete spectrum is recorded at each of the pixels. After a description of the peculiar characteristics of images as data, a detailed discussion on the use of exploratory data analytical tools, calibration and classification methods is presented. The aim of Chapter 10 is to present an overview of the role of chemometrics in food traceability, starting from the characterisation of soils up to the classification and authentication of the final product. The discussion is accompanied by examples taken from the different ambits where chemometrics can be used for tracing and authenticating foodstuffs. Chapter 11 introduces NMR-based metabolomics as a potentially useful tool for food quality control. After a description of the bases of the metabolomics approach, examples of its application for authentication, identification of adulterations, control of the safety of use, and processing are presented and discussed. Finally, Chapter 12 introduces the concept of interval methods in chemometrics, both for data pretreatment and data analysis. The topics... 

Engel, E., Ratel, J. (2007). Correction of the data generated by mass spectrometry analyses of biological tissues Application to food authentication. J. Chromatogr. 4 1154, 331-341. 

H. Casablanca, J.-B. Graff, P. Jame, C. Pemrcchietti and M. Chastr ette, Application of hyphenated techniques to the cl U omatogr aphic authentication of flavours in food products and perfumes , 7. High Resolut. Chromatogr. 18 279-285 (1995). 

To detect adulteration of wine. Bums et al. (2002) found that the ratios of acetylated to p-coumaroylated conjugates of nine characteristic anthocyanins served as useful parameters to determine grape cultivars for a type of wine. Our laboratory utilized mid-infrared spectroscopy combined with multivariate analysis to provide spectral signature profiles that allowed the chemically based classification of antho-cyanin-containing fruits juices and produced distinctive and reproducible chemical fingerprints, making it possible to discriminate different juices. " This new application of ATR-FTIR to detect adulteration in anthocyanin-containing juices and foods may be an effective and efficient method for manufacturers to assure product quality and authenticity. 

A. J. Charlton, W. H. Farrington, P. Brereton 2002, (Application of 1H NMR and multivariate statistics for screening complex mixtures quality control and authenticity of instant coffee), J. Agric. Food Chem. 50, 3098-3103. 

Casablanca H, Graff JB, Separation of linalyl acetate enantiomers Application to the authentication of bergamot food products, J High Resolut Chromatogr 17 184-186, 1994. 

Fruit juices, whether of natural strength or concentrated, are materials of commerce, to be sold direct or for use in a variety of food and drink applications. It is essential that they conform to legislative requirements for authenticity and purity, whether for labelling purposes (in avoidance of misleading statements), nutritional standards or in respect of food safety in the final product. 

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