Tea and Chicory Extract Characterization, Classification and Authentication by Non-Targeted HPLC-UV-FLD Fingerprinting and Chemometrics

Unlocking the elemental signature of European tea gardens: Implications for tea traceability

This study presents a comprehensive analysis of the elemental profiles of tea leaves coming from plants grown in several European gardens, with a focus on the bioaccumulation of essential and potentially toxic trace elements in relation to processing and location of tea garden. Samples were collected from various gardens across Europe, including Portugal, the Azores, Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. Elemental analysis was conducted on fresh tea leaves, dried leaves, and leaves processed for the production of green and black tea, along with soil samples from the root zones of tea plants. The results reveal no significant differences in elemental content based on the processing of tea leaves. However, distinct elemental profiles were observed among tea leaves of plants grown in gardens from different European regions. Utilizing chemometric and machine learning tools, the study highlights the potential of these elemental profiles for enhancing the traceability of tea products.

Quality Assessment of Tomato Paste Products on the Ghanaian Market: An Insight Into Their Possible Adulteration

Tomato paste is the most consumed tomato product on the Ghanaian market, the majority of which are imported into the country. This food product is easily adulterated, and thus, routine quality checks are necessary. Therefore, the current study is aimed at assessing the quality of eight tomato paste products on the Ghanaian market and checking for the presence of starch and artificial colourant erythrosine as possible adulterants. Routine quality metrics such as the pH, titratable acidity, total solids, and total soluble solids were assessed using standard methods. An HPLC method was employed to detect the presence of the colourant erythrosine, whereas starch content was determined by an enzymatic method using α-amylase and then amyloglucosidase. Fifty percent of the products did not qualify to be called tomato paste based on total solid estimation. All the sampled products contained some amount of starch, with three having more than 10 g/100 g of this thickener. Additionally, the banned colourant erythrosine was detected in two of the products. All other parameters were consistent with regulatory standards. The present study has shown that some tomato paste products on the Ghanaian market contain additives that are not permitted under any circumstance and fall short of regulatory standards.

Analysis and classification of tea varieties using high-performance liquid chromatography and global retention models

As a result of their metabolic processes, medicinal plants produce bioactive molecules with significant implications for human health, used directly for treatment or for pharmaceutical development. Chromatographic fingerprints with solvent gradients authenticate and categorise medicinal plants by capturing chemical diversity. This work focuses on optimising tea sample analysis in HPLC, using a model-based approach without requiring standards. Predicting the gradient profile effects on full signals was the basis to identify optimal separation conditions. Global models characterised retention and bandwidth for 14 peaks in the chromatograms across varied elution conditions, facilitating resolution optimisation of 63 peaks, covering 99.95 % of total peak area. The identified optimal gradient was applied to classify 40 samples representing six tea varieties. Matrices of baseline-corrected signals, elution bands, and band ratios, were evaluated to select the best dataset. Principal Component Analysis (PCA), k-means clustering, and Partial Least Squares-Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA) assessed classification feasibility. Classification limitations were found reasonable due to tea processing complexities, involving drying and fermentation influenced by environmental conditions.

Advanced detection tools in food fraud: A systematic review for holistic and rational detection method based on research and patents

Modern food chain supply management necessitates the dire need for mitigating food fraud and adulterations. This holistic review addresses different advanced detection technologies coupled with chemometrics to identify various types of adulterated foods. The data on research, patent and systematic review analyses (2018-2023) revealed both destructive and non-destructive methods to demarcate a rational approach for food fraud detection in various countries. These intricate hygiene standards and AI-based technology are also summarized for further prospective research. Chemometrics or AI-based techniques for extensive food fraud detection are demanded. A systematic assessment reveals that various methods to detect food fraud involving multiple substances need to be simple, expeditious, precise, cost-effective, eco-friendly and non-intrusive. The scrutiny resulted in 39 relevant experimental data sets answering key questions. However, additional research is necessitated for an affirmative conclusion in food fraud detection system with modern AI and machine learning approaches.

Structure and energetics of serum protein complex of tea adulterant dye Bismarck brown Y using experimental and computational methods

Tea, a widely consumed aromatic beverage, is often adulterated with dyes such as Bismarck brown Y (C.I. 21000) (BBY), Prussian blue, and Plumbago, which pose potential health risks. The objective of this study is to analyze how the food dye BBY interacts with serum protein, bovine serum albumin (BSA). This study investigated the BBY-BSA interaction at the molecular level. Fluorescence spectroscopy results showed that the quenching of BSA by BBY is carried out by dynamic quenching mechanism. The displacement assay and molecular docking studies revealed that BBY binds at the flavanone binding site of BSA with hydrophobic interactions. Circular Dichroism results indicate the structural stability of the protein upon BBY binding. Molecular dynamics simulations demonstrated the stability of the complex in a dynamic solvent system, and quantum mechanics calculations showed slight conformational changes of the diaminophenyl ring due to increased hydrophobic interaction. The energetics of gas phase optimized and stable MD structures of BBY indicated similar values which further confirmed that the conformational changes were minor, and it also exhibited a moderate binding with BSA as shown by the MM/PBSA results. This study enhances our understanding of the molecular-level interactions between BBY and BSA, emphasizing the critical role of hydrophobic interactions.

Targeted HPLC-UV Polyphenolic Profiling to Detect and Quantify Adulterated Tea Samples by Chemometrics

Tea can be found among the most widely consumed beverages, but it is also highly susceptible to fraudulent practices of adulteration with other plants such as chicory to obtain an illicit economic gain. Simple, feasible and cheap analytical methods to assess tea authentication are therefore required. In the present contribution, a targeted HPLC-UV method for polyphenolic profiling, monitoring 17 polyphenolic and phenolic acids typically described in tea, was proposed to classify and authenticate tea samples versus chicory. For that purpose, the obtained HPLC-UV polyphenolic profiles (based on the peak areas at three different acquisition wavelengths) were employed as sample chemical descriptors for principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) studies. Overall, PLS-DA demonstrated good sample grouping and discrimination of chicory against any tea variety, but also among the five different tea varieties under study, with classification errors below 8% and 10.5% for calibration and cross-validation, respectively. In addition, the potential use of polyphenolic profiles as chemical descriptors to detect and quantify frauds was evaluated by studying the adulteration of each tea variety with chicory, as well as the adulteration of red tea extracts with oolong tea extracts. Excellent results were obtained in all cases, with calibration, cross-validation, and prediction errors below 2.0%, 4.2%, and 3.9%, respectively, when using chicory as an adulterant, clearly improving on previously reported results when using non-targeted HPLC-UV fingerprinting methodologies.

Detection and Quantitation of Adulterated Paprika Samples Using Second-Order HPLC-FLD Fingerprints and Chemometrics

Paprika is a widely consumed spice in the world and its authentication has gained interest considering the increase in adulteration cases in recent years. In this study, second-order fingerprints acquired by liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection (HPLC-FLD) were first used to detect and quantify adulteration levels of Chinese paprika samples. Six different adulteration cases, involving paprika production region, cultivar, or both, were investigated by pairs. Two strategies were employed to reduce the data matrices: (1) chromatographic fingerprints collected at specific wavelengths and (2) fusion of the mean data profiles in both spectral and time dimensions. Afterward, the fingerprint data with different data orders were analyzed using partial least squares (PLS) and n-way partial least squares (N-PLS) regression models, respectively. For most adulteration cases, N-PLS based on second-order fingerprints provided the overall best quantitation results with cross-validation and prediction errors lower than 2.27% and 20.28%, respectively, for external validation sets with 15-85% adulteration levels. To conclude, second-order HPLC-FLD fingerprints coupled with chemometrics can be a promising screening technique to assess paprika quality and authenticity in the control and prevention of food frauds.

Distinguishing Different Varieties of Oolong Tea by Fluorescence Hyperspectral Technology Combined with Chemometrics

Oolong tea is a semi-fermented tea that is popular among people. This study aims to establish a classification method for oolong tea based on fluorescence hyperspectral technology(FHSI) combined with chemometrics. First, the spectral data of Tieguanyin, Benshan, Maoxie and Huangjingui were obtained. Then, standard normal variation (SNV) and multiple scatter correction (MSC) were used for preprocessing. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used for data visualization, and with tolerance ellipses that were drawn according to Hotelling, outliers in the spectra were removed. Variable importance for the projection (VIP) > 1 in partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS−DA) was used for feature selection. Finally, the processed spectral data was entered into the support vector machine (SVM) and PLS−DA. MSC_VIP_PLS−DA was the best model for the classification of oolong tea. The results showed that the use of FHSI could accurately distinguish these four types of oolong tea and was able to identify the key wavelengths affecting the tea classification, which were 650.11, 660.29, 665.39, 675.6, 701.17, 706.31, 742.34 and 747.5 nm. In these wavelengths, different kinds of tea have significant differences (p < 0.05). This study could provide a non-destructive and rapid method for future tea identification.

High-Throughput Flow Injection Analysis-Mass Spectrometry (FIA-MS) Fingerprinting for the Authentication of Tea Application to the Detection of Teas Adulterated with Chicory

Tea is a broadly consumed beverage worldwide that is susceptible to fraudulent practices, including its adulteration with other plants such as chicory extracts. In the present work, a non-targeted high-throughput flow injection analysis-mass spectrometry (FIA-MS) fingerprinting methodology was employed to characterize and classify different varieties of tea (black, green, red, oolong, and white) and chicory extracts by principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA). Detection and quantitation of frauds in black and green tea extracts adulterated with chicory were also evaluated as proofs of concept using partial least squares (PLS) regression. Overall, PLS-DA showed that FIA-MS fingerprints in both negative and positive ionization modes were excellent sample chemical descriptors to discriminate tea samples from chicory independently of the tea product variety as well as to classify and discriminate among some of the analyzed tea groups. The classification rate was 100% in all the paired cases-i.e., each tea product variety versus chicory-by PLS-DA calibration and prediction models showing their capability to assess tea authentication. The results obtained for chicory adulteration detection and quantitation using PLS were satisfactory in the two adulteration cases evaluated (green and black teas adulterated with chicory), with calibration, cross-validation, and prediction errors below 5.8%, 8.5%, and 16.4%, respectively. Thus, the non-targeted FIA-MS fingerprinting methodology demonstrated to be a high-throughput, cost-effective, simple, and reliable approach to assess tea authentication issues.