Authenticity in Food

The adulteration of milk via the addition of low molecular weight compounds, such as melamine for economically motivated fraud, is a well-known concern. Methods for adulteration detection have been examined extensively. Current methods tend to focus on small molecule adulteration; however, large molecule adulteration with other animal or plant proteins is becoming increasingly common in the dairy industry. We offer innovative technologies to help researchers to identify intentional ingredient substitutions in dairy products including FT-IR and FT- NIR systems, GC-MS solutions and our milk powder analyzer.

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Adulteration in grain may occur through the replacement of high-grade grains with lower-grade ones or through the addition of non-grain elements to increase product bulk or weight.

One solution from PerkinElmer is based on Spectrum Two^™ IR and Frontier^™ FT-NIR spectrometers. Together with Adulterant Screen^™ software, these instruments can test liquids and solids using a Pass/Fail approach for adulterants and authenticity in food at the same time they measure a product’s standard nutritional parameters.

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Addition of sugars, dilution with water or products of lesser value are among the most common adulteration practices in baby food and fruit juices. PerkinElmer can offer different analytical approaches can be used to evaluate the authenticity of these products, from mass spectrometry techniques to IR instruments able to provide results in less than 30 seconds.

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Herbs and spices are one of the most commonly adulterated commodity products, with a prime example being oregano adulterated with olive and myrtle leaves. For the determination of the authenticity for herbbs and spices, PerkinElmer offers a full range of solutions. One of these is based on near-IR spectroscopy. This fast and cost effective technique, when combined with a spectral library, can provide conclusive information about samples, and is ideally suited to both qualitative analysis of materials and quantification of components.

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Adulteration of EVOO with lower quality olive oils, or other lower cost edible oils, is frequently reported in the media. The most common adulterants include: hazelnut oil, sunflower oil, soybean oil, corn oil, rapeseed oil, and olive pomace oil. Mid-infrared spectroscopy is a well-established technique for the analysis of edible oil samples. The PerkinElmer Spectrum Two^™ FT-IR, a high-performance compact FT-IR allows for a fast, easy, and low-cost method for screening olive oil samples for adulterants.

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A high-value product commonly associated with adulteration is honey. Adding corn syrup allows dishonest suppliers to maintain the sweet taste without a noticeable difference in the product. PerkinElmer’s Fourier Transform Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-NIR) solutions provide a quick, high quality testing method that allows for the detection of adulterants in honey.

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For the determination of adulterants in meats and seafood, one of the most effective and reliable methods consists in the identification and quantification of specific biomarkers. PerkinElmer’s QSight Triple Quad System is a selective method for the analysis of adulterated meats.

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Adulteration of wine is a very old practice that occurs through te addition of water, alcohol or grapes from different geographical origins. For example, the quality and price of wine is partly determined by the source of the grapes used to produce it, and the traceability of the wine origin is important for brand protection. Elemental profiling using our ICP-MS systems and related statistical software correlates the levels of trace metals in wines to the soil , which can be used to differentiate their geographical origin.

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