Fast detection of apricot product frauds by added pumpkin via planar chromatography and chemometrics: Greenness assessment by analytical eco-scale

The European Commission requires that fruit products distributed on the market meet standards of high quality and authenticity. For the quality assessment of apricot products susceptible to food fraud, an environmentally friendly, simple and cost-effective analytical profiling was developed by high-performance thin-layer chromatography multi-imaging (HPTLC-FLD/Vis). The new phytochemical profiling was applied for analysis of authentic samples (7 apricot and 5pumpkin samples) and simulated adulterated products (11 mixture samples prepared by addition of 2.5-53% pooled pumpkin to pooled apricot). Based on the analytical eco-scale assessment, the HPTLC-FLD/Vis method was proven as an excellent green analytical method with low energy and solvent consumption. Chemometric data analysis confirmed the difference between apricot and apricot-pumpkin mixtures based on the phytochemical profile. Chemical markers responsible for their differentiation were identified. The results indicated that frauds by adding pumpkin to apricot products can be detected at added contents as low as 2.5%.