Work

Meeting the challenge of varietal and geographical authentication of hazelnuts through lipid metabolite fingerprinting

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: Hazelnuts are high-quality products with significant economic importance in many European countries. Their market price depends on their qualitative characteristics, which are driven by cultivar and geographical origin, making hazelnuts susceptible to fraud. This study systematically compared two lipidomic fingerprinting strategies for the simultaneous authentication of hazelnut cultivar and provenance, based on the analysis of the unsaponifiable fraction (UF) and triacylglycerol (TAG) profiles by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry coupled with chemometrics. PLS-DA classification models were developed using a large sample set with high natural variability ( n = 309) to discriminate hazelnuts by cultivar and origin. External validation results demonstrated the suitability of the UF fingerprint as a hazelnut authentication tool, both tested models showing a high efficiency (>94 %). The correct classification rate of the TAG fingerprinting method was lower (>80 %), but due to its faster analysis time, it is recommended as a complementary screening tool to UF fingerprinting. • Hazelnut cultivar shapes triacylglycerol (TAG) and unsaponifiable (UF) fingerprints. • Hazelnut geographical origin influences TAG and UF fingerprints. • Models on UF reach a higher accuracy than TAG in verifying cultivar and origin. • TAG can be a screening technique for hazelnut cultivar and origin authentication. • TAG and UF combination classifies correctly ≥90 % hazelnuts, reducing workload.

Source: Food Chemistry

DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2024.141203