Quo vadis non-targeted wine analysis?

Important challenges of wine authentication - for example the proof of wine varieties, the determination of the vintage or the geographical origin, the determination of certain practices (e.g. differentiation of barrel/chips storage) become more and more successfully investigated by non-targeted analytical approaches. Not only in relation to these open questions in wine authentication non-targeted approaches such as nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectrometry offer enormous potential also in wine authentication due to their typical abilities as high-through put and screening technique. The adaptation from research into routine applications takes actually place in some instances (e.g. NMR) including wine analysis. In addition the combination of non-targeted and targeted approaches within the same run of analysis provides possibilities complementing or even substituting classical methodologies. Some examples, the general workflow and typical evaluation strategies will be presented and their possibilities and limits discussed. First results of a recent study on the NMR analysis with focus on variety verification and reproducibility of spectral data will be presented. Particular emphasis will be put on general open questions such as exchangeability of data, validation, standardisation options

Non-Water-Suppressed 1H MR Spectroscopy with Orientational Prior Knowledge Shows Potential for Separating Intra- and Extramyocellular Lipid Signals in Human Myocardium

Conditions such as type II diabetes are linked with elevated lipid levels in the heart, and significantly increased risk of heart failure; however, metabolic processes underlying the development of cardiac disease in type II diabetes are not fully understood. Here we present a non-invasive method for in vivo investigation of cardiac lipid metabolism: namely, IVS-McPRESS. This technique uses metabolite-cycled, non-water suppressed 1H cardiac magnetic resonance spectroscopy with prospective and retrospective motion correction. High-quality IVS-McPRESS data acquired from healthy volunteers allowed us to investigate the frequency shift of extramyocellular lipid signals, which depends on the myocardial fibre orientation. Assuming consistent voxel positioning relative to myofibres, the myofibre angle with the magnetic field was derived from the voxel orientation. For separation and individual analysis of intra- and extramyocellular lipid signals, the angle myocardial fibres in the spectroscopy voxel take with the magnetic field should be within ±24.5°. Metabolite and lipid concentrations were analysed with respect to BMI. Significant correlations between BMI and unsaturated fatty acids in intramyocellular lipids, and methylene groups in extramyocellular lipids were found. The proposed IVS-McPRESS technique enables non-invasive investigation of cardiac lipid metabolism and may thus be a useful tool to study healthy and pathological conditions

Discrimination of n-3 Rich Oils by Gas Chromatography

Exploring the capabilities of instrumental techniques for discriminating n-3 rich oils derived from animals is a very important though much neglected area that was emphasized more than 100 years ago. In this study the potential of gas chromatography (GC) for discriminating full fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) profiles from fish (cod liver and salmon) and marine mammal (seal and whale) oils is evaluated by means of principal component analysis (PCA). The FAME profiles from plant oils such as rapeseed, linseed and soy oils and seven different brands of n-3 supplements are also used in the discrimination process. The results from the PCA plots can reliably distinguish between plant, n-3 supplements, fish and marine mammal oils. By removing the contribution of the n-3 supplements and plant oils it is possible to discriminate between types of fish and marine animal oils. GC offers a rapid, simple and convenient means of discriminating oils from different species, brands and grades

Results from Two Inter-laboratory Comparison Tests Organized in Germany and at the EU Level for the Analysis of Acrylamide in Food

After the publication of high levels of acrylamide (AA) in food, many research activities started all over the world in order to determine the occurrence and the concentration of this substance in various types of food. As no validated methods were available at that time, interlaboratory studies on the determination of AA in food were of the highest priority. Under the boundary conditions of applying well – established evaluation schemes, the results of 2 studies conducted by the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) in Germany and by the European Commission’s Directorate General Joint Research Centre (JRC) exhibited an overall acceptable performance of the participants in these studies. Nevertheless, many laboratories showed problems in determining AA in food with a complex matrix such as cocoa. The results of analysis also showed a broader variation of AA for samples with low AA concentration and indicated a bias of the results obtained by gas chromatography – mass spectrometry without derivatization. Improvements of the performance of some laboratories appeared to be necessaryJRC.D.8-Food safety and qualit

Stable isotope techniques for verifying the declared geographical origin of food in legal cases

Background Consumers are increasingly interested in the provenance of the foods and European laws require protection against the mislabelling of premium foods. Methods for testing authenticity require robust analytical techniques that can be utilised by the various regulatory authorities. Of the many techniques, the most widely-used method is stable isotope ratio analysis. Scope and approach Focus is on the use of stable isotope ratios of H, C, N, O, S and Sr for verifying the geographical origin of food, cross-referencing it with examples of legal cases. State of the art including rules for building an authentic sample reference database (commonly called databank) and for interpreting the results obtained in actual cases is described. The overall objective is to provide stakeholders and competent authorities dealing with fraud, with a best-practice guide for its use. Key findings and conclusions Stable isotope ratios can differentiate foods on the basis of their geographical origin and, especially for light elements, can be measured reliably in routine work in different matrices and compared successfully between different laboratories. Examples of legal applications are grape products, orange juices, olive oil, cheese, butter, caviar. Sometimes, the cases are not brought directly to the court, but before further verifications (e.g. paper traceability, forensic accounting) are conducted. The system can satisfy the court when a robust databank of authentic samples exists, the methods used are officially recognized, validated and accredited, and the expert demonstrates that the conclusions are sufficiently robust and reliable to stand up to the required level of proof