Paola Salvadeo

High-performance liquid chromatographic phenolic compound fingerprint for authenticity assessment of honey.

BACKGROUND Phenolic compound profiles of 20 honeys of different botanical origin (eucalyptus, citrus, chestnut and linden) were obtained by high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection after solid phase extraction, in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the fingerprint method for monofloral honey discrimination. RESULTS A total of 58 peaks were detected at λ = 280 nm. Distinctive phenolic compound profiles were obtained in which both the nature and the relative amount of the detected compounds were characteristic for different botanical source honeys. In order to detect sample groupings, chromatographic peak areas were submitted to principal component analysis. Then linear discriminant analysis was carried out on the first three principal components. In addition, linear discriminant analysis was carried out on the 58 variables, allowing the selection of five variables able to discriminate honeys of different botanical origin. CONCLUSION The chemometric evaluation of the phenolic compound profiles yielded classification models able to group honey samples according to their floral source with an excellent degree of agreement. The main advantage of the fingerprint approach with respect to traditional methods is that it does not require time-consuming identification and quantification of the analytes. The method proved to be effective for the assessment of honey authenticity.

Targeted and untargeted data-dependent experiments for characterization of polycarbonate food-contact plastics by ultra high performance chromatography coupled to quadrupole orbitrap tandem mass spectrometry

Materials that come in contact with foods are potential sources of chemical food contamination. Consequently, characterization of their composition is of paramount importance considering the possible occurrence of several unknown molecules such as non-intentionally added substance (NIAS), residual monomers, degradation products, plastic additives and organic colorants. Previous studies concerning the characterization in terms of composition are focalized in the recognition of additives. To the best authors knowledge there are no scientific data about the composition of a plastic material in terms of colorants. In this work, an analytical method employing capillary ultra high-performance liquid chromatography and electrospray ionization quadrupole orbitrap high-resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC-ESI Q-orbitrap) was exploited for characterization of polycarbonate for food contact material. Data-dependent experiments for targeted and untargeted analysis were employed after a total dissolution of polycarbonate samples and extraction of its components. The presence of common additives such as antioxidants and UV absorbers was confirmed by targeted analysis, while, the untargeted approach combined with the high mass accuracy of orbitrap technology allowed to identify for the first time some polycarbonate degradation products and the organic dyes effectively used for the coloration of plastic objects intended to come in contact with food. The present study shows the high potential of this technique in the field of material characterization aimed at food safety evaluation.

UHPLC-high-resolution mass spectrometry determination of bisphenol A and plastic additives released by polycarbonate tableware: influence of ageing and surface damage

AbstractA new UHPLC-ESI-Orbitrap method for the identification and the quantitative determination of bisphenol A and some common additives employed in plastic manufacturing has been developed and validated. The method has been applied to evaluate the migration from 14 samples of tableware of different age and degree of surface damage, in both ethanol and isooctane (used as food simulants according to EU plastic regulation). Bisphenol A, three UV light absorbers, and one whitening agent were detected and quantified. Data were analyzed with the aim of exploring a possible correlation between bisphenol A and additives release, ageing, and surface integrity. A high correlation between age of samples, surface damage, and bisphenol A migration has been evaluated, while the release of additives was not correlated with other parameters. Obtained data showed for the first time that the release of bisphenol A seems to be more connected to ageing than to scratches and cracks occurrence. Graphical AbstractBisphenol A and additives released by polycarbonate tableware: influence of ageing and surface damage