Food Authentication of Almonds (Prunus dulcis Mill.). Fast Origin Analysis with Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry and Chemometrics

Kristian von Wuthenau; Marie-Sophie Müller; Lina Cvancar; Marie Oest; Markus Fischer

doi:10.1021/acs.jafc.2c01088

Food Authentication of Almonds (Prunus dulcis Mill.). Fast Origin Analysis with Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry and Chemometrics

J Agric Food Chem. 2022 Apr 27;70(16):5237-5244. doi: 10.1021/acs.jafc.2c01088. Epub 2022 Apr 19.

Authors

Kristian von Wuthenau¹, Marie-Sophie Müller¹, Lina Cvancar¹, Marie Oest¹, Markus Fischer¹

Affiliation

¹ Hamburg School of Food Science─Institute of Food Chemistry, University of Hamburg, Grindelallee 117, 20146 Hamburg, Germany.

PMID: 35438492
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.2c01088

Abstract

Food fraud is a growing problem, especially misdeclaration due to regional price differences offering a wide field. Fast, powerful, and cost-effective analytical methods are therefore essential to counteract food fraud. The isotopolome is suitable for origin discrimination and was analyzed in this study using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). A total of 250 almond samples from six countries and four crop years were analyzed and evaluated by chemometric methods. By using a ratio-based assessment, calibration problems were avoided and an origin predictive accuracy of 85.2 ± 1.2% was achieved. Compared to ICP-MS with solution nebulization, the analysis time could be reduced to about one-fifth.

Keywords: ICP-MS; Prunus dulcis; almonds; chemometrics; food profiling; inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry; laser ablation; origin authentication.

MeSH terms

Chemometrics
Laser Therapy*
Mass Spectrometry / methods
Prunus dulcis* / chemistry
Spectrum Analysis