355
foreign or an inferior substance and removing a vital element or characterization of
the product. European Union (EU) quality schemes identify products and foodstuff
farmed and produced to exacting specifications. Product designations fall into two
categories: those linked to a territory and those relating to a particular production
method. Geographical indications and designations of origin are names identifying
a product as originating in a given territory and testifying to a link between a given
quality, reputation or characteristic of the product and its geographical origin. The
EU regulation allows the application of the following geographical indications to a
food product: (1) protected designation of origin (PDO), (2) protected geographical
indication (PGI) and (3) traditional specialities guaranteed (TSG). PDO covers agricultural products that are produced, processed and prepared in a given geographical
area using recognized know-how. PGI covers agricultural products and foodstuffs
closely linked to the geographical area. At least one of the stages of production,
processing or preparation takes place in the area. TSG highlights traditional character in composition or means of production.
Reviews of analytical methods for the determination of geographical origin of
food and beverages have been published (Fairweather-Tait and Dainty 2002;
Martinez et al. 2003; Carter et al. 2015; Li et al. 2016). Methods based on elemental
composition have been reviewed as well as methods based on isotope ratios (Kelly
et al. 2005; Carter et al. 2015; Li et al. 2016). Strategies employed to detect adulteration have relied on instrumental techniques and have evolved through time along
with technology and instrumentation. High-performance liquid chromatography
(HPLC), gas chromatography (GC), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), infrared
spectroscopy (IR), fluorescence spectroscopy, capillary electrophoresis (CE) and
more advanced techniques such as proton transfer reaction mass spectrometry
(PTR-MS), electronic nose coupled with MS DNA technologies and sensory analysis have been proposed for food authentication (Martinez et al. 2003). However,
organic components of a food crop production depend on various conditions (e.g.
fertilization, history of the field, climatic conditions in the year of cultivation, geographic location and soil composition), so it is not always possible to determine the
origin of a product by analysing the organic components. Despite uncertainty about
the organic compounds in a sample, the content of selected elements (trace and rare
earth elements, REEs) in food positively reflects the growing conditions in the particular environment. In addition, multi-isotope or single-isotope ratios (e.g. strontium and lead) can provide unique, representative fingerprints that make it possible
to discriminate the origin of food samples. Over the past decade, with the development of new advanced analytical techniques [e.g. thermal ionization MS (TIMS),
inductively coupled plasma MS (ICP-MS) and dynamic reaction cell-ICPMS
(DRC-ICPMS)], we can successfully retrieve elemental and isotopic compositions,
of any given food sample, and determine the geographic origin successfully. The
growing concern of the consumers stimulated scientific research and publications in
recent years, including multi-element and isotope ratio methods of analysis in food
authentication after statistical evaluation of the data.
12 Characterization of Multi-element Profiles and Multi-isotope Ratio Records as…
foreign or an inferior substance and removing a vital element or characterization of
the product. European Union (EU) quality schemes identify products and foodstuff
farmed and produced to exacting specifications. Product designations fall into two
categories: those linked to a territory and those relating to a particular production
method. Geographical indications and designations of origin are names identifying
a product as originating in a given territory and testifying to a link between a given
quality, reputation or characteristic of the product and its geographical origin. The
EU regulation allows the application of the following geographical indications to a
food product: (1) protected designation of origin (PDO), (2) protected geographical
indication (PGI) and (3) traditional specialities guaranteed (TSG). PDO covers agricultural products that are produced, processed and prepared in a given geographical
area using recognized know-how. PGI covers agricultural products and foodstuffs
closely linked to the geographical area. At least one of the stages of production,
processing or preparation takes place in the area. TSG highlights traditional character in composition or means of production.
Reviews of analytical methods for the determination of geographical origin of
food and beverages have been published (Fairweather-Tait and Dainty 2002;
Martinez et al. 2003; Carter et al. 2015; Li et al. 2016). Methods based on elemental
composition have been reviewed as well as methods based on isotope ratios (Kelly
et al. 2005; Carter et al. 2015; Li et al. 2016). Strategies employed to detect adulteration have relied on instrumental techniques and have evolved through time along
with technology and instrumentation. High-performance liquid chromatography
(HPLC), gas chromatography (GC), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), infrared
spectroscopy (IR), fluorescence spectroscopy, capillary electrophoresis (CE) and
more advanced techniques such as proton transfer reaction mass spectrometry
(PTR-MS), electronic nose coupled with MS DNA technologies and sensory analysis have been proposed for food authentication (Martinez et al. 2003). However,
organic components of a food crop production depend on various conditions (e.g.
fertilization, history of the field, climatic conditions in the year of cultivation, geographic location and soil composition), so it is not always possible to determine the
origin of a product by analysing the organic components. Despite uncertainty about
the organic compounds in a sample, the content of selected elements (trace and rare
earth elements, REEs) in food positively reflects the growing conditions in the particular environment. In addition, multi-isotope or single-isotope ratios (e.g. strontium and lead) can provide unique, representative fingerprints that make it possible
to discriminate the origin of food samples. Over the past decade, with the development of new advanced analytical techniques [e.g. thermal ionization MS (TIMS),
inductively coupled plasma MS (ICP-MS) and dynamic reaction cell-ICPMS
(DRC-ICPMS)], we can successfully retrieve elemental and isotopic compositions,
of any given food sample, and determine the geographic origin successfully. The
growing concern of the consumers stimulated scientific research and publications in
recent years, including multi-element and isotope ratio methods of analysis in food
authentication after statistical evaluation of the data.
12 Characterization of Multi-element Profiles and Multi-isotope Ratio Records as…