Discrimination of Adulterated Ginkgo Biloba Products Based on 2T2D Correlation Spectroscopy in UV-Vis Range

Ginkgo biloba is a popular medicinal plant widely used in numerous herbal products, including food supplements. Due to its popularity and growing economic value, G. biloba leaf extract has become the target of economically motivated adulterations. There are many reports about the poor quality of ginkgo products and their adulteration, mainly by adding flavonols, flavonol glycosides, or extracts from other plants. In this work, we developed an approach using two-trace two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy (2T2D COS) in UV-Vis range combined with multilinear principal component analysis (MPCA) to detect potential adulteration of twenty G. biloba food supplements. UV-Vis spectral data are obtained for 80% methanol and aqueous extracts in the range of 245–410 nm. Three series of two-dimensional correlation spectra were interpreted by visual inspection and using MPCA. The proposed relatively quick and straightforward approach successfully differentiated supplements adulterated with rutin or those lacking ginkgo leaf extract. Supporting information about adulteration was obtained from the difference between the DPPH radical scavenging capacity of both extracts and from chromatographic (HPLC-DAD) fingerprints of methanolic samples.     

In Vivo Toxicity Evaluation of Sugar Adulterated Heterotrigona itama Honey Using Zebrafish Model

Honey is prone to be adulterated through mixing with sugars, cheap and low-quality honey, and other adulterants. Consumption of adulterated honey may cause several health issues such as weight gain, diabetes, and liver and kidney dysfunction. Therefore, studying the impact of consumption of adulterated honey on consumers is critical since there is a lack of study in this field. Hence, the aims of this paper were: (1) to determine the lethal concentration (LC₅₀) of adulterated honey using zebrafish embryo, (2) to elucidate toxicology of selected adulterated honey based on lethal dose (LD₅₀) using adult zebrafish, (3) to determine the effects of adulterated honey on histological changes of zebrafish, and (4) to screen the metabolites profile of adulterated honey by using zebrafish blood serum. The LC₅₀ of Heterotrigona itama honey (acacia honey) and its sugar adulterants (light corn sugar, cane sugar, inverted sugar, and palm sugar in the proportion of 1–3% (w/w) from the total volume) was determined by the toxicological assessment of honey samples on zebrafish embryos (different exposure concentrations in 24, 48, 72, and 96 h postfertilization (hpf)). Pure H. itama honey represents the LC₅₀ of 34.40 ± 1.84 (mg/mL) at 96 hpf, while the inverted sugar represents the lowest LC₅₀ (5.03 ± 0.92 mg/mL) among sugar adulterants. The highest concentration (3%) of sugar adulterants were used to study the toxicology of adulterated honey using adult zebrafish in terms of acute, prolong-acute, and sub-acute tests. The results of the LD₅₀ from the sub-acute toxicity test of pure H. itama honey was 2.33 ± 0.24 (mg/mL). The histological studies of internal organs showed a lesion in the liver, kidney, and spleen of adulterated treated-honey groups compared to the control group. Furthermore, the LC-MS/MS results revealed three endogenous metabolites in both the pure and adulterated honey treated groups, as follows: (1) S-Cysteinosuccinic acid, (2) 2,3-Diphosphoglyceric acid, and (3) Cysteinyl-Tyrosine. The results of this study demonstrated that adulterated honey caused mortality, which contributes to higher toxicity, and also suggested that the zebrafish toxicity test could be a standard method for assessing the potential toxicity of other hazardous food additives. The information gained from this research will permit an evaluation of the potential risk associated with the consumption of adulterated compared to pure honey.     

Rapid Full-Cycle Technique to Control Adulteration of Meat Products: Integration of Accelerated Sample Preparation,Recombinase Polymerase Amplification,and Test-Strip Detection

Verifying the authenticity of food products is essential due to the recent increase in counterfeit meat-containing food products. The existing methods of detection have a number of disadvantages. Therefore, simple, cheap, and sensitive methods for detecting various types of meat are required. In this study, we propose a rapid full-cycle technique to control the chicken or pig adulteration of meat products, including 3 min of crude DNA extraction, 20 min of recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) at 39 °C, and 10 min of lateral flow assay (LFA) detection. The cytochrome B gene was used in the developed RPA-based test for chicken and pig identification. The selected primers provided specific RPA without DNA nuclease and an additional oligonucleotide probe. As a result, RPA–LFA, based on designed fluorescein- and biotin-labeled primers, detected up to 0.2 pg total DNA per μL, which provided up to 0.001% w/w identification of the target meat component in the composite meat. The RPA–LFA of the chicken and pig meat identification was successfully applied to processed meat products and to meat after heating. The results were confirmed by real-time PCR. Ultimately, the developed analysis is specific and enables the detection of pork and chicken impurities with high accuracy in raw and processed meat mixtures. The proposed rapid full-cycle technique could be adopted for the authentication of other meat products.     

核磁共振技术结合化学计量学方法用于蜂蜜的掺假鉴别

采用核磁共振技术(NMR)结合化学计量学分析手段研究了真蜂蜜和掺假蜂蜜的指纹图谱变化情况。采用无监督的主成分分析(PCA)和有监督的偏最小二乘判别分析(PLS-DA)、正交偏最小二乘判别分析(OPLS-DA)等多元统计分析方法从核磁信号中提取各组的分类信息。结果表明:建立的OPLS-DA模型能够区分真假蜂蜜,所建模型对蜂蜜真假判别的解释能力为90.5%,对未知样本的预测能力为75.5%、识别率为89.7%。置换测试验证表明,化学计量学模型具有很好的稳定性和预测性,可信赖性强,且模型稳健。通过OPLS-DA模型的载荷图和相关系数分析找到了对区分掺假蜂蜜有显著作用的标志物。结合相关系数分析,建立了辨别真假蜂蜜的多元线性回归方程。该方法可简单、快速地用于未知蜂蜜的掺假鉴别,为规范蜂蜜市场提供有利的依据。     

A rapid and reliable UPLC-MS/MS method for the identification and quantification of fourteen synthetic anti-diabetic drugs in adulterated Chinese proprietary medicines and dietary supplements

An ultraperformance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC‐MS/MS) method was developed for simultaneous qualitative and quantitative analysis of 14 synthetic anti‐diabetic drugs in adulterated Chinese proprietary medicines (CPMs) and dietary supplements. The samples were prepared by ultrasonic extraction with methanol and separated on a C₁₈ column with mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile and water (both containing 0.10% formic acid). Gradient elution was applied with a flow rate of 0.20 mL/min. Two transitions from protonated molecules were monitored for each synthetic anti‐diabetic drug in positive mode of electrospray ionization (ESI). The two transitions, the peak area ratio of the two transitions and the retention time were used for identification. The more intensive transition was used for quantification. The analysis time was 6 min per sample. Satisfactory linear relationships were estimated between the peak area and the concentration with correlation coefficients higher than 0.995. The limit of detection ranged from 0.03 to 5.45 ng/mL. The relative standard deviation of intra‐day precision was below 7.6%, the RSD of inter‐day precision was below 15% and the relative error of accuracy was between –10 and 7.8%. The proposed method is rapid, selective, reliable and was successfully applied to the analysis of 30 real samples of 22 CPMs and eight dietary supplements from the local market in China. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于消费者行为的食品溯源信息监管策略研究

溯源信息真实性直接影响食品可溯源体系建设和消费者对食品安全信心。本文基于消费者行为理论,构建溯源信息掺假与不掺假以及掺假比例大小、政府监管力度强弱情形时企业最优定价决策模型。结果表明,无论消费者购买可溯源产品的溯源信息量高低,企业均选择溯源信息掺假,此时政府两种策略:一是加强监管力度和惩罚力度,迫使企业不敢溯源信息掺假;二是提升产品低溯源信息程度,缩小高低溯源信息程度差异,促使企业无可掺假信息空间。通过高低溯源信息程度对企业最优决策影响研究,低监管情形下企业最优决策受到高低溯源信息程度影响较为显著,高监管情形下企业最优决策受其影响较小。     

消费者预防在线销售掺假行为的博弈模型及最优策略

建立了描述消费者与带掺假行为的在线零售商之间相互博弈的双层规划模型,其中消费者为领导者,在线零售商为随从者.消费者预防在线销售掺假行为的两种策略是进行商品品质检查和采用延期付款,在线零售商则依据消费者的预防策略决定是否销售掺假商品.根据消费者和在线零售商的可能采用的策略,对模型分四种情形展开分析与讨论,并分别在不同情形下得到了消费者与在线零售商的最优决策.结果表明,消费者延期付款的最优时间和进行商品品质检查能有效遏制在线零售商掺假行为.     

Visible Raman spectroscopy for the discrimination of olive oils from different vegetable oils and the detection of adulteration

We have investigated the potential of Raman spectroscopy with excitation in the visible spectral range (VIS Raman) as a tool for the classification of different vegetable oils and the quantification of adulteration of virgin olive oil as an example. For the classification, principal component analysis (PCA) was applied, where 96% of the spectral variation was characterized by the first two components. A significant similarity between sunflower oil and extra‐virgin olive oil was found using this approach. Therefore, sunflower oil is a potential candidate for adulteration in most commercially available olive oils. Beside the classification of the different vegetable oils, we have successfully applied Raman spectroscopy in combination with partial least‐squares (PLS) regression analysis for very fast monitoring of adulteration of extra‐virgin olive oil with sunflower oil. Different mixtures of extra‐virgin olive oil with three different sunflower oil types were prepared between 5 and 100% (v/v) in 5% increments of sunflower oil. While in the present context the adulteration usually refers to the addition of reasonable amounts of the adulterant (given the similarity with the basic product), we show that the technique proposed can also be used for trace analysis of the adulterant. Without using techniques like surface‐enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), a quantitative detection limit down to 500 ppm (0.05%) could be achieved, a limit irrelevant for adulteration in commercial terms but significant for trace analysis. The qualitative detection limit even was at considerably lower concentration values. Based on PCA, a clear discrimination between pure extra‐virgin olive oil and olive oil adulterated with sunflower oil was achieved. The adulterant content was successfully determined using PLS regression with a high correlation coefficient and small root mean‐square error for both prediction and validation. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于代谢组学的食品真实属性鉴别研究进展

随着食品工业的快速发展以及生活水平的提高,人们对食品的质量安全提出了更高的要求,市场上的食品掺假造假现象也日益受到社会的关注。目前,主要的食品掺假手段包括假冒物种及品种、冒充或虚标原产地、原料品质以次充好、掺入杂劣质及违禁原料等。因此亟须建立切实有效的食品真实属性鉴别方法。近几年来,国内外一些学者开始将代谢组学研究平台应用于解决食品安全问题的研究,对食品中尽可能多的代谢产物从整体角度进行定性定量分析,为食品真实属性鉴别研究提供了一种新的研究工具。该文综述了基于代谢组学的食品物种及品种鉴别、产地溯源、品质分级和掺假掺杂识别等真实属性鉴别研究,为进一步保证食品质量安全、保障消费者利益提供了技术支撑。     

Adulteration of Essential Oils: A Multitask Issue for Quality Control. Three Case Studies: Lavandula angustifolia Mill., Citrus limon (L.) Osbeck and Melaleuca alternifolia (Maiden & Betche) Cheel

The quality control of essential oils (EO) principally aims at revealing the presence of adulterations and at quantifying compounds that are limited by law by evaluating EO chemical compositions, usually in terms of the normalised relative abundance of selected markers, for comparison to reference values reported in pharmacopoeias and/or international norms. Common adulterations of EO consist of the addition of cheaper EO or synthetic materials. This adulteration can be detected by calculating the percent normalised areas of selected markers or the enantiomeric composition of chiral components. The dilution of the EO with vegetable oils is another type of adulteration. This adulteration is quite devious, as it modifies neither the qualitative composition of the resulting EO nor the marker’s normalised percentage abundance, which is no longer diagnostic, and an absolute quantitative analysis is required. This study aims at verifying the application of the two above approaches (i.e., normalised relative abundance and absolute quantitation) to detect EO adulterations, with examples involving selected commercial EO (lavender, bergamot and tea tree) adulterated with synthetic components, EO of different origin and lower economical values and heavy vegetable oils. The results show that absolute quantitation is necessary to highlight adulteration with heavy vegetable oils, providing that a reference quantitative profile is available.