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Application of Emerging and Acknowledged Approaches for Food and Beverages Authentication

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A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Natural Products Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 16 September 2024 | Viewed by 8498

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Dana Alina Magdas

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National Institute for Research and Development of Isotopic and Molecular Technologies, Donat Street, No. 67–103, RO, 400293 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Interests: food and beverages authentication; traceability; metabolomics; chemometrics; artificial intelligence
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Ioana Coralia Feher

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Guest Editor

National Institute for Research & Development of Isotopic & Molecular Technologies, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Interests: gas cromatography; mass spectrometry; chemometric data processing; food authentication and traceability

Dr. Gabriela Cristea

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Guest Editor

National Institute for Research & Development of Isotopic & Molecular Technologies, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Interests: stable isotopes as tracers of the food and beverages origin and in assessment of them quality; global carbon cycle; the development of isotopic methods for 13C, 18O, 2H, 15N measurements in different matrices

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Food authentication represents an important topic for food safety, food quality, and consumer protection, as well as for compliance with international standards, national legislation, and guidelines. Quality assurance and methods used to authenticate foodstuffs are of great interest from both commercial and legal points of view.

Because food adulteration has become increasingly subtle and challenging to detect, new approaches are continuously being developed, and new authentication markers are proving their potential. During the last several years, metabolomic studies have gained attention from researchers and food control entities, alongside the already acknowledged methodologies for food control. Regardless of whether these new methodologies are based on spectroscopic (i.e., ¹H-NMR, Raman, IR) or spectrometric (isotopic, elemental, or molecular) analytical methods, a big data set is usually generated. In order to deal with and extract the essential information from all these data sets, advanced statistical methods are a mandatory tool in this regard. Apart from chemometric tools, during the last several years machine learning, artificial intelligence and fuzzy divisive hierarchical associative-clustering approaches have proved to be very effective in the development of predictive models for food and beverages control.

This Special Issue aims to include new approaches based on spectroscopic and spectrometric methods, in association with advanced data processing and prediction tools with applications in food and beverages authentication studies.

Dr. Dana Alina Magdas
Dr. Ioana Coralia Feher
Dr. Gabriela Cristea
Guest Editors

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 777 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Characterization of Beef Coming from Different European Countries through Stable Isotope (H, C, N, and S) Ratio Analysis

by Luana Bontempo, Matteo Perini, Silvia Pianezze, Micha Horacek, Andreas Roßmann, Simon D. Kelly, Freddy Thomas, Katharina Heinrich, Claus Schlicht, Antje Schellenberg, Jurian Hoogewerff, Gerhard Heiss, Bernhard Wimmer and Federica Camin

Molecules 2023, 28(6), 2856; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28062856 - 22 Mar 2023

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1636

Abstract

The need to guarantee the geographical origin of food samples has become imperative in recent years due to the increasing amount of food fraud. Stable isotope ratio analysis permits the characterization and origin control of foodstuffs, thanks to its capability to discriminate between products having different geographical origins and derived from different production systems. The Framework 6 EU-project “TRACE” generated hydrogen (²H/¹H), carbon (¹³C/¹²C), nitrogen (¹⁵N/¹⁴N), and sulphur (³⁴S/³²S) isotope ratio data from 227 authentic beef samples. These samples were collected from a total of 13 sites in eight countries. The stable isotope analysis was completed by combining IRMS with a thermal conversion elemental analyzer (TC/EA) for the analysis of δ(²H) and an elemental analyzer (EA) for the determination of δ(¹³C), δ(¹⁵N), and δ(³⁴S). The results show the potential of this technique to detect clustering of samples due to specific environmental conditions in the areas where the beef cattle were reared. Stable isotope measurements highlighted statistical differences between coastal and inland regions, production sites at different latitudes, regions with different geology, and different farming systems related to the diet the animals were consuming (primarily C3- or C4-based or a mixed one). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Emerging and Acknowledged Approaches for Food and Beverages Authentication)

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11 pages, 778 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Fatty Acid and Multi-Isotopic Analysis (C, H, N, O) as a Tool to Differentiate and Valorise the Djebel Lamb from the Mountainous Region of Tunisia

by Samir Smeti, Federica Camin, Luana Bontempo, Souha Tibaoui, Yathreb Yagoubi, Silvia Pianezze, Edi Piasentier, Luca Ziller and Naziha Atti

Molecules 2023, 28(4), 1847; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28041847 - 15 Feb 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1145

Abstract

The objective of this study was to distinguish between the Tunisian Djebel lamb meat and meat from typical Tunisian production systems (PSs) through the fatty acids (FAs) profile and the stable isotope ratio analysis (SIRA). Thirty-five lambs from three different regions and PSs (D = Djebel, B = Bou-Rebiaa, and O = Ouesslatia) were considered for this purpose. The results demonstrated that the PS and the geographic origin strongly influenced the FA profile of lamb meat. It was possible to discriminate between the Djebel lamb meat and the rest of the dataset thanks to the quantification of the conjugated linoleic acids (CLA) and the branched chain FAs. Moreover, statistically different concentrations of saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated FAs and a different n-6/n-3 ratio were found for grazing (D and BR) and indoor (O) lambs, making it possible to discriminate between them. As for the stable isotope ratio analysis, all parameters made it possible to distinguish among the three groups, primarily on the basis of the dietary regimen (δ(¹³C) and δ(¹⁵N)) and breeding area (δ(¹⁸O) and δ(²H)). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Emerging and Acknowledged Approaches for Food and Beverages Authentication)

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9 pages, 1293 KiB

Open AccessCommunication

Authentication and Geographical Characterisation of Italian Grape Musts through Glucose and Fructose Carbon Isotopic Ratios Determined by LC-IRMS

by Matteo Perini, Silvia Pianezze, Katia Guardini, Letizia Allari and Roberto Larcher

Molecules 2023, 28(3), 1411; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28031411 - 02 Feb 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1302

Abstract

The authenticity of grape musts is normally checked through a time-consuming stable isotopic analysis of carbon (δ¹³C) after fermentation and distillation by following the official OIV MA AS-312-06 method. In this study, the alternative use of a technique based on δ¹³C isotopic analysis of the major sugars of the grape must by liquid chromatography coupled with isotope ratio mass spectrometry (LC-IRMS) is provided. It allows not only the detection of the fraudulent addition to grape must of exogenous glucose and fructose deriving from C4 plants but also the characterisation of it based on its geographical origin. In order to discriminate between musts from different areas of Italy, a preliminary dataset was considered; the δ¹³C isotopic ratios of glucose and fructose of around 100 authentic samples were analysed. The two analysed parameters, ranging from −29.8‰ to −21.9‰, are well correlated (R² = 0.7802) and the northern regions showed significantly more negative δ¹³C values for both sugars than the rest of the dataset. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Emerging and Acknowledged Approaches for Food and Beverages Authentication)

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15 pages, 1719 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Isotopic and Elemental Fingerprint of Edible Egg Parts—The Health Risk Assessment Based on Potentially Toxic Elements Content

by Gabriela Cristea, Adriana Dehelean, Romulus Puscas, Ariana Raluca Hategan and Dana Alina Magdas

Molecules 2023, 28(2), 503; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28020503 - 04 Jan 2023

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1082

Abstract

The present study investigated the isotopic and elemental profile (by IRMS and ICP–MS) of edible egg parts (29 egg whites and 29 yolks) mainly collected from Romania. In order to differentiate the egg white and yolk coming from different hen rearing systems (backyard and barn), Partial Least Square-Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA) models were developed. The models’ accuracies for the discrimination according to the hen growing system were 96% for egg white and 100% for egg yolk samples, respectively. Elements that proved to have the highest discrimination power for both egg white and yolk were the following: δ¹³C, Li, B, Mg, K, Ca, Mn, Fe, Co, Zn, Rb, Sr, Mo, Ba, La, Ce, and Pb. Nevertheless, the important compositional differentiation, in terms of essential mineral content, between the edible egg parts (egg white and egg yolk) were also pointed out. The estimated daily intake (EDI), the target hazard quotient (THQ) for Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Se, Cd, Pb, and As, as well as the hazard index (HI) were used to assess non-carcinogenic human health risks from egg consumption. The obtained results showed no noticeable health risks related to egg consumption for humans from the point of view of the potentially toxic metals. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Emerging and Acknowledged Approaches for Food and Beverages Authentication)

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11 pages, 2693 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Isotopic Characterization of 100% Agave Tequila (Silver, Aged and Extra-Aged Class) for Its Use as an Additional Parameter in the Determination of the Authenticity of the Beverage Maturation Time

by Rocío Fonseca-Aguiñaga, Walter M. Warren-Vega, Floriberto Miguel-Cruz and Luis A. Romero-Cano

Molecules 2021, 26(6), 1719; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules26061719 - 19 Mar 2021

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 2412

Abstract

Isotopic ratios of δ¹³C_VPDB and δ¹⁸O_VSMOW have been used as an additional parameter to ensure the authenticity of the aging time of 100% agave tequila. For this purpose, 120 samples were isotopically analyzed (40 silver class, 40 aged class, and 40 extra-aged classes). The samples were obtained through a stratified sampling by proportional allocation, considering tequila producers from the main different regions of Jalisco, Mexico (Valles 41%, Altos Sur 31%, Cienega 16%, and Centro 12%). The results showed that the δ¹³C_VPDB was found in an average of −12.85 ‰ for all the analyzed beverages, with no significant difference between them. Since for all the tested samples the Agave tequilana Weber blue variety was used as source of sugar to obtain alcohol, those results were foreseeable, and confirm the origin of the sugar source. Instead, the results for δ¹⁸O_VSMOW showed a positive slope linear trend for the aging time (silver class 19.52‰, aged class 20.54‰, extra-aged class 21.45‰), which is associated with the maturation process, there are oxidation reactions that add congeneric compounds to the beverage, these can be used as tracers for the authenticity of the aging time. Additionally, the experimental data showed homogeneity in the beverages regardless of the production region, evidencing the tequila industry’s high-quality standards. However, a particular case occurs with the δ¹⁸O_VSMOW data for the silver class samples, in which a clear trend is noted with the altitude of the region of origin; therefore, this information suggests that this analytical parameter could be useful to authenticate the regional origin of beverage. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Emerging and Acknowledged Approaches for Food and Beverages Authentication)

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