Unit:
Κατεύθυνση Αναλυτική ΧημείαLibrary of the School of Science
Author:
Drakopoulou Sofia
Supervisors info:
Νικόλαος Θωμαΐδης, Καθηγητής, Χημεία, ΕΚΠΑ
Αντώνιος Καλοκαιρινός, Καθηγητής, Χημεία, ΕΚΠΑ
Αναστάσιος Οικονόμου, Καθηγητής, Χημεία, ΕΚΠΑ
Original Title:
Targeted metabolomics as an advanced tool for the detection of pomegranate juice adulteration
Translated title:
Targeted metabolomics as an advanced tool for the detection of pomegranate juice adulteration
Summary:
Economically motivated adulteration (EMA) of food, also known as food fraud, is the intentional adulteration of food for financial advantage. A common form of EMA is the undeclared substitution with alternative ingredients and could also pose a health risk to consumers due to potential allergic reactions. Fruit juices have been in the top-7 foods reported from 1980 to 2010 as the most common targets for adulteration.
Several fruit juices, and especially pomegranate juice, have become popular with regard to high levels of antioxidants, presumed to be associated with positive health effects. Similarly to other highly prized food commodities, the economic value and large-scale production of these valuable fruit juices have made them a likely target for adulteration and fraud. One of the most frequent profit-driven fraudulent procedures is the extension of authentic juice with cheaper alternatives (typically juices obtained from apples, grapes and others). Consequently, there is a substantial need for effective food control systems to protect consumers from adulterated food products.
In the present study, the main objective was to explore the feasibility of using targeted analysis under a metabolomics approach. For this reason, a reversed-phase liquid-chromatography coupled to quadruple-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (RPLC-QToF-MS) was used and the data were acquired through broad-band Collision Induced Dissociation (bbCID), which provided information on parent and fragment ions without pre-selection of analytes in one run, in order to discriminate authentic and adulterated fruit juices. Data corresponding to the phenolic composition of fruit juices and their LC-HRMS metabolic fingerprint were considered as a source of potential descriptors for the classification of juices and detection of adulteration.
The data set was treated using advanced chemometric techniques in order to identify possible markers. Finally, pomerganate-fruit extracts were adulterated with different amounts (1–20%) of grape and apple juice and the phenolic profile and mass spectrometric fingerprinting was evaluated for authentication purposes.
Main subject category:
Science
Keywords:
fruit juices, adulteration, authenticity, LC-QToF-MS, target screening, chemometrics, metabolomics
