Determination of geographical origin of concentrated apple juice through analysis of stable isotopic and mineral elemental fingerprints:Preliminary results

BACKGROUND With increasing attention being paid to food authenticity, the geographic origin of food has become a topic of interest for both consumers and producers. As far as we known, there are relatively few studies on the origin traceability of concentrated apple juice. The most commonly used methods of origin tracing researches are stable isotopes and mineral elements technology, because these indicators are directly related to local geographical environment. RESULTS In this study, discriminant model was established by determining the content of the stable isotopes (δ13 C, δ18 O) and 15 mineral elements (B, Ba, Ca, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Mo, Na, Ni, Sr, Ti and V) in concentrated apple juice. Linear discriminant analysis (LDA), principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) were employed for regional classification of samples. After data conversion and correlation analysis, spatial and quantitative prediction models were established using multiple linear regressions. Finally, the experimental results showed that the six key variables (δ18 O, B, Mo, δ13 C, Sr, Cr) selected by the analysis can be used to further characterize the production area. CONCLUSION The results showed that the carbon and oxygen isotopes combined with certain mineral elements can be used to indicate the origin of concentrated apple juice. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.