Fecha de publicación: 28/10/2024 Fuente: Foods - Revista científica (MDPI) Foods, Vol. 13, Pages 3443: Detection of Illicit Conservation Treatments in Sea Bass (Dicentrarchus labrax): Application and Data Integration of NIR Spectrometers
Foods doi: 10.3390/foods13213443
Authors:
Giovanna Esposito
Alessandro Benedetto
Elisa Robotti
Masho Hilawie Belay
Eleonora Goggi
Simone Cerruti
Nunzia Giaccio
Davide Mugetti
Emilio Marengo
Laura Piscopo
Marzia Pezzolato
Elena Bozzetta
Maria Cesarina Abete
Paola Brizio

Global fish and seafood consumption is increasing annually, frequently leading to the emergence of food fraud, mainly related to mislabeling and adulteration like, for example, the use of illicit/unauthorized food additives to mask or delay fish spoilage. Among the available diagnostic tools for control purposes, spectroscopic techniques have often been proposed to identify these kinds of illicit practices in fish and seafood products. The presented study aims to test two cheap and portable near infrared (NIR) spectrometers, a handheld MicroNIR and a pocket-sized SCiO, to uncover use of the illicit food additive Cafodos, a mixture of sodium citrate and hydrogen peroxide used to preserve some fish characteristics (like smell, color, na dtexture). The NIR spectroscopy in combination with chemometric approaches, allowed the successfully classification of (81–100%) samples of sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) treated with Cafodos. The study highlights the potential of this technique that, by not requiring pre-treatment of samples with further reagents, is cheaper and safer for the environment. In conclusion, the study confirmed the potential of portable devices for rapid NIR spectroscopy analysis to identify food fraud and ensure consumer safety.