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Rapid Detection Methods for Food Fraud and Food Contaminants

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A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Analytical Methods".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2019) | Viewed by 34638

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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Giorgia Purcaro

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Guest Editor

Gembloux Agri-Bio Tech, University of Liege, Liege, Belgium
Interests: analytical chemistry; chromatography; multidimensional and comprehensive chromatography; mass spectrometry; sample preparation; metabolomics; lipid analysis; food quality and authenticity; food contaminants
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Recent food crises have underlined how the problem of fraud detection and contaminant prevention is real and urgent, and it pinpoints the necessity for more effective and protective array of quality control methods. The improvement should include technologies, analytical methods, and data analysis. Fingerprinting approaches coupled with powerful chemometric algorithms have proved to be a great ally for food fraud detection. On the other hand, sensitive and accurate instrumentation is often required to assure effective contaminant control, although many emerging contaminants need smart sample preparation rather than powerful instrumentation.

The target of this Special Issue is to present the state-of-the-art of rapid detection methods for food fraud and food contaminants. Papers dealing with the optimization of sample preparation, analytical approaches, and data handling will be presented.

Prof. Giorgia Purcaro
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Foods is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 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.

Keywords

Food frauds
Food contaminants
Sample preparation
Analytical methods
Rapid methods
Fingerprinting
Profiling
Chemometrics

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

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10 pages, 1612 KiB

Open AccessArticle

In-Depth Qualitative Analysis of Lime Essential Oils Using the Off-Line Combination of Normal Phase High Performance Liquid Chromatography and Comprehensive Two-Dimensional Gas Chromatography-Quadrupole Mass Spectrometry

by Mariosimone Zoccali, Barbara Giocastro, Ivana L. Bonaccorsi, Alessandra Trozzi, Peter Q. Tranchida and Luigi Mondello

Foods 2019, 8(11), 580; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods8110580 - 16 Nov 2019

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3680

Abstract

The present research is focused on the in-depth qualitative analysis of three types of lime essential oil (EO), viz., Key (A and B) and Persian, using the off-line combination of normal phase high performance liquid chromatography (NP-HPLC) and comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography–quadrupole mass spectrometry (GC × GC-QMS). The first analytical dimension (NP-HPLC) was exploited for the isolation of the hydrocarbon constituents from the oxygenated ones. Each fraction was then reduced in volume and analyzed using (cryogenic modulation) GC × GC-QMS. Peak assignment was carried out through the combined use of mass spectral database and linear retention index matching processes. The powerful four-dimensional technology enabled the separation and identification of a very high number (153) of lime essential oil volatile compounds. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Rapid Detection Methods for Food Fraud and Food Contaminants)

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14 pages, 2357 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Tracing the Geographical Origin of Durum Wheat by FT-NIR Spectroscopy

by Annalisa De Girolamo, Marina Cortese, Salvatore Cervellieri, Vincenzo Lippolis, Michelangelo Pascale, Antonio Francesco Logrieco and Michele Suman

Foods 2019, 8(10), 450; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods8100450 - 2 Oct 2019

Cited by 28 | Viewed by 4793

Abstract

Fourier transform near infrared (FT-NIR) spectroscopy, in combination with principal component-linear discriminant analysis (PC-LDA), was used for tracing the geographical origin of durum wheat samples. The classification model PC-LDA was applied to discriminate durum wheat samples originating from Northern, Central, and Southern Italy (n = 181), and to differentiate Italian durum wheat samples from those cultivated in other countries across the world (n = 134). Developed models were validated on a separated set of wheat samples. Different pre-treatments of spectral data and different spectral regions were selected and compared in terms of overall discrimination (OD) rates obtained in validation. The LDA models were able to correctly discriminate durum Italian wheat samples according to their geographical origin (i.e., North, Central, and South) with OD rates of up of 96.7%. Better results were obtained when LDA models were applied to the discrimination of Italian durum wheat samples from those originating from other countries across the world, having OD rates of up to 100%. The excellent results obtained herein clearly indicate the potential of FT-NIR spectroscopy to be used for the discrimination of durum wheat samples according to their geographical origin. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Rapid Detection Methods for Food Fraud and Food Contaminants)

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12 pages, 1635 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Assessment of a New GC-MS/MS System for the Confirmatory Measurement of PCDD/Fs and (N)DL-PCBs in Food under EU Regulation

by Flavio Antonio Franchina, Eliane Lazzari, George Scholl and Jean-François Focant

Foods 2019, 8(8), 302; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods8080302 - 1 Aug 2019

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 5901

Abstract

Polychlorodibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), polychloro-dibenzofurans (PCDFs), dioxin-like (DL), and non dioxin-like (NDL) polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are currently regulated in food and feed within the European territory (EU 2017/644-771). The confirmatory methods of analysis for checking compliance with maximum levels (MLs) for these involve either the historically-established GC-magnetic sector high-resolution mass spectrometry (GC-HRMS) and, more recently, GC-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry operating in tandem mode (GC-QQQMS/MS). In this study, the performance of a novel triple quadrupole GC-QQQMS/MS system equipped with a programable temperature vaporization (PTV) injector was evaluated for the analysis of regulated PCDD/Fs and PCBs in food and feed. The MS analyzer was equipped with a titanium ionization chamber and a new short collision cell capable to accumulate and eject ions by means of very narrow pulses that allow to minimize the noise and to adapt accumulation times for sensitive multiple reaction monitoring (MRM). The analytical capability of the system was confronted by the strict requirements (selectivity, reproducibility, linearity, quant/qual MRM transitions, accuracy, robustness) set by the EU Regulation for a range of standards, quality control (QC) and food/feed samples. In this respect, the approach showed high precision (1.9–15% relative standard deviation (RSD) at low pg/µL) and accuracy (>80%, except for one hexa-CDD). The quantitative results were also compared to the most used GC-HRMS. In this case, comparable results in terms of single congener concentration basis and total toxic equivalent (TEQ) basis for PCDD/Fs and DL-PCBs were obtained for the QC samples analyzed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Rapid Detection Methods for Food Fraud and Food Contaminants)

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12 pages, 2279 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Use of Attenuated Total Reflectance—Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR) Spectroscopy in Combination with Multivariate Methods for the Rapid Determination of the Adulteration of Grape, Carob and Mulberry Pekmez

by Nihal Yaman and Serap Durakli Velioglu

Foods 2019, 8(7), 231; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods8070231 - 28 Jun 2019

Cited by 23 | Viewed by 5161

Abstract

Pekmez, a traditional Turkish food generally produced by concentration of fruit juices, is subjected to fraudulent activities like many other foodstuffs. This study reports the use of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) in combination with chemometric methods for the detection of fraudulent addition of glucose syrup to traditional grape, carob and mulberry pekmez. FTIR spectra of samples were taken in mid-infrared (MIR) range of 400–4000 cm⁻¹ using attenuated total reflectance (ATR) sample accessory. Partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) and PLS chemometric methods were built for qualitative and quantitative analysis of pekmez samples, respectively. PLS-DA models were successfully used for the discrimination of pure pekmez samples and the adulterated pekmez samples with glucose syrup. Sensitivity and specificity of 100%, and model efficiency of 100% were obtained in PLS-DA models for all pekmez groups. Detection of the adulteration ratio of pekmez samples was also accomplished using ATR-FTIR spectroscopy in combination with PLS. As a result, it was shown that ATR-FTIR spectroscopy along with chemometric methods had a great potential for determination of pekmez adulteration with glucose syrup. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Rapid Detection Methods for Food Fraud and Food Contaminants)

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15 pages, 6699 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Detection of Additives and Chemical Contaminants in Turmeric Powder Using FT-IR Spectroscopy

by Sagar Dhakal, Walter F. Schmidt, Moon Kim, Xiuying Tang, Yankun Peng and Kuanglin Chao

Foods 2019, 8(5), 143; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods8050143 - 26 Apr 2019

Cited by 35 | Viewed by 8279

Abstract

Yellow turmeric (Curcuma longa) is widely used for culinary and medicinal purposes, and as a dietary supplement. Due to the commercial popularity of C. longa, economic adulteration and contamination with botanical additives and chemical substances has increased. This study used FT-IR spectroscopy for identifying and estimating white turmeric (Curcuma zedoaria), and Sudan Red G dye mixed with yellow turmeric powder. Fifty replicates of yellow turmeric—Sudan Red mixed samples (1%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25% Sudan Red, w/w) and fifty replicates of yellow turmeric—white turmeric mixed samples (10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50% white turmeric, w/w) were prepared. The IR spectra of the pure compounds and mixtures were analyzed. The 748 cm⁻¹ Sudan Red peak and the 1078 cm⁻¹ white turmeric peak were used as spectral fingerprints. A partial least square regression (PLSR) model was developed for each mixture type to estimate adulteration concentrations. The coefficient of determination (R²_v) for the Sudan Red mixture model was 0.97 with a root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) equal to 1.3%. R²_v and RMSEP for the white turmeric model were 0.95 and 3.0%, respectively. Our results indicate that the method developed in this study can be used to identify and quantify yellow turmeric powder adulteration. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Rapid Detection Methods for Food Fraud and Food Contaminants)

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Review

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20 pages, 1709 KiB

Open AccessReview

Microwave-Based Technique for Fast and Reliable Extraction of Organic Contaminants from Food, with a Special Focus on Hydrocarbon Contaminants

by Sabrina Moret, Chiara Conchione, Ana Srbinovska and Paolo Lucci

Foods 2019, 8(10), 503; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods8100503 - 16 Oct 2019

Cited by 55 | Viewed by 5781

Abstract

Due to food complexity and the low amount at which contaminants are usually present in food, their analytical determination can be particularly challenging. Conventional sample preparation methods making use of large solvent volumes and involving intensive sample manipulation can lead to sample contamination or losses of analytes. To overcome the disadvantages of conventional sample preparation, many researchers put their efforts toward the development of rapid and environmental-friendly methods, minimizing solvent consumption. In this context, microwave-assisted-extraction (MAE) has obtained, over the last years, increasing attention from analytical chemists and it has been successfully utilized for the extraction of various contaminants from different foods. In the first part of this review, an updated overview of the microwave-based extraction technique used for rapid and efficient extraction of organic contaminants from food is given. The principle of the technique, a description of available instrumentation, optimization of parameters affecting the extraction yield, as well as integrated techniques for further purification/enrichment prior to the analytical determination, are illustrated. In the second part of the review, the latest applications concerning the use of microwave energy for the determination of hydrocarbon contaminants—namely polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and mineral oil hydrocarbons (MOH)—are reported and critically overviewed and future trends are delineated. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Rapid Detection Methods for Food Fraud and Food Contaminants)

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