Fast adulteration testing of expensive food ingredients by DART-HRMS: example for truffles

Food fraud is a major issue in the food industry leading to financial losses for food processors, inflicting lasting damage in the trust of consumers and in the most severe cases even threatening public health. The combination of DART with QTOF-MS and the software package MetaboScape is a comprehensive solution for food quality control as shown in this example for black truffles. Truffles are considered a luxury product, consequently, there is a concern about adulteration, which can encompass blending authentic truffles with lower-quality alternatives or employing artificial flavorings to replicate the truffle taste. Aside of just classification, the method enables the identification of possible markers down to a detailed elucidation of the underlying molecular structures. A discrimination between the different black truffle species was achieved by unsupervised and supervised statistical models. Distinctive marker compounds were identified and annotated based on their accurate mass, isotope pattern and fragmentation pattern. Analysis of one sample is finished in 15 seconds, the chromatography-free workflow highly reduces solvent consumption and limits exposure of operators to toxic solvents.

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