Fabrizio Cincotta

Effects of cluster thinning on wine quality of Syrah cultivar (Vitis vinifera L.)

Cluster thinning is a viticulture tool used to correct overcropping, to improve fruit composition, and to find a balance between shoot growth and berry development. The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of cluster thinning on the wine quality of Syrah cultivar under Mediterranean climate. Particular attention has been given to the volatile aroma compounds which are determinant for the sensory quality of the wine. Manual cluster thinning in the early stage of veraison was applied and compared with a not thinned control. Cluster thinning influenced yield reduction, advanced grape maturity, improved the phenolic content of grapes and therefore of wine, and influenced the volatile profile of wine. The grapes of thinned plants tend to get rich in varietal and fermentation aromas. Despite the economic impact, cluster thinning is a viable option due to the improvement in wine quality, especially for increasing the amount of compounds responsible for the typical aroma and color, at least in the Mediterranean climate where the search was carried out.

Determination of furan and furan derivatives in baby food

A Headspace-Solid Phase Microextraction-Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC-MS) method was developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of furan, 2-methylfuran, 2-ethylfuran, 2-butylfuran, 2-pentylfuran, 2-acetylfuran, furfural and furfuryl alcohol in jarred baby food. The method was specific for the analytes. Good precision was obtained both in terms of intra-day repeatability (RSD ≤ 5.02) and inter-day precision (RSD ≤ 5.55%). The recovery values were between 98.42% and 99.8%. Linearity was established over two order of magnitude, and the achieved LODs and LOQs ranged between 0.018 and 0.035 ng/g and 0.060-0.117 ng/g, respectively, depending on the analyte. Finally, the method was successfully applied to investigate the content of furan and furan derivatives in several commercial baby food samples containing fruit or meat. The results showed that this simple, rapid and solvent free procedure could be used routinely for the analysis of baby food providing competent quantitative data functional to risk assessment.

Bioactive volatiles in Sicilian (South Italy) saffron: safranal and its related compounds

Abstract Sicilian saffron is cultivated mainly in the province of Enna, although cultivation is spreading slowly throughout the region. Volatile constituents which are fundamental for saffron aroma were determined. A large number of volatile compounds were identified using HS–SPME and GC–MS. Safranal, safranal isomer, isophorones, α-cyclocitral, and β-cyclocitral were also quantified. A high amount of safranal resulted in the samples; moreover, of interest was the amount of safranal isomer and α-isophorone. The results allowed to consider Sicilian saffron of high commercial quality. It is an important source of bioactive compounds for the amount of safranal and related compounds, which are important for its aroma and relevant to human health too.

Sensory analysis and head-space aroma volatiles for the characterization of capers from different geographic origin

Abstract Characterization of capers (Capparis spinosa L. Capparaceae) was achieved by measurement of aroma compounds and sensory descriptors. Different capper samples (the floral buds of the plants) coming from Pantelleria and Salina Islands (Italy) were analyzed. Head-space aroma volatiles were extracted and analyzed by SPME-GC-MS. In all, more than one-hundred volatile compounds were identified and the quantitative results have been expressed as percentage of total peak area. Aliphatic acids and aldehydes were the most abundant chemical classes in all the samples whereas aromatic alcohols distinguish the samples from different origin. Among sulfur compounds, methyl-isothiocyanate was the major one, followed by benzyl-isothiocyanate. The sensory profile of capers was defined by a trained panel, measuring the intensity of nineteen descriptors. All the data were statistically correlated. Multivariate analysis applied to the volatile and sensory data allowed distinguishing the samples in relation to the area of origin.

Characterization and ageing monitoring of Marsala dessert wines by a rapid FTIR-ATR method coupled with multivariate analysis

Marsala is a dessert wine exclusively produced in the province of Trapani (Sicily, Italy). Twenty-nine different categories of Marsala are present on the market sort by the grape variety, production technology and aging. This research aims to develop a fast and easy method to characterize the different categories using attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared (FTIR-ATR) spectroscopy combined with multivariate analysis. Principal Component Analysis (PCA), applied to spectral data, allowed separating wine samples of different sugar content and distinguishing the tanned samples (Fine, Superiore and Superior reserve) from the most valuable Virgin ones. Moreover, Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) was applied to the spectral data with a CV higher than 20% to discriminate among Marsala wines of different aging times. The results showed a complete discrimination of 100%. The confusion matrix of cross validation was equal to 87.76% indicating a high percentage of correct classification also in prediction. The proposed method is promising as it is simple and rapid and no sample pre-treatment steps are required. Moreover, it is environmentally friendly since no organic solvents are used. It could be of great interest to verify the conformity of the Marsala wines to the declaration labeled; moreover, it could be used for wine aging monitoring and/or verifying the effects of innovation in the production process.

Analytical and sensory characterization of ‘Pesca di Leonforte’ (Prunus persica Batsch)

Abstract ‘Pesca di Leonforte’ is a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) product cultivated in the Southern Sicily (Italy). The application for PGI status for ‘Pesca di Leonforte’ is justified by its particular firmness and late ripening characteristic. This research aimed to characterize ‘Pesca di Leonforte’ by quantification of its aroma compounds and the sensory profile. Head-space aroma volatiles were extracted and analyzed by SPME-GC-MS. A large number of compounds have been identified; most of these are well-known in peach fruits, but others have been here identified for the first time. Alcohols, esters and lactones were the most representative chemical classes. The sensory profile of ‘Pesca di Leonforte’ was also defined by a trained panel which assigned high values to peach odor and flavor descriptors. The quantitative data were correlated to the odor descriptors allowing the sensorial characterization of the product. In the samples analyzed esters and lactones prevailed with their sensory descriptors of fruity and peach odor.

Volatile emerging contaminants in melon fruits, analysed by HS-SPME-GC-MS

ABSTRACT The aim of this research was to develop and validate a headspace-solid phase micro-extraction–gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (HS-SPME–GC–MS) method for the determination of volatile emerging contaminants in fruit. The method showed good precision (RSD ≤ 14%) and satisfactory recoveries (99.1–101.7%) and LOD and LOQ values ranging between 0.011–0.033 μg kg−1 and 0.037–0.098 μg kg−1, respectively. The method was applied to investigate the content of volatile emerging contaminants in two varieties of melon fruit (Cucumis melo L.) cultivated adjoining high-risk areas. Glycol ethers, BHT, BHA and BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene) were determined in melon fruit pulps for the first time, with different sensitivities depending on sample and variety. Although the amount of the volatile contaminants in the melon samples were in the order of µg kg−1, the safety of vegetable crops cultivated near risk areas should be more widely considered. The results showed that this accurate and reproducible method can be useful for routine safety control of fruits and vegetables.