Novel analytical method for detection of orange juice adulteration based on ultra-fast gas chromatography

Abstract: The food authenticity assessment is an increasingly important issue in food quality and safety. The application of an electronic nose based on ultra-fast gas chromatography technique enables rapid analysis of the volatile compounds from food samples. Due to the fact that this technique provides chemical profiling of natural products, it can be a powerful tool for authentication in combination with chemometrics. In this article, a methodology for classification of Not From Concentrate (NFC) juices was presented. During research samples of 100% orange juice, 100% apple juice, as well as mixtures of these juices with known percentage of base juices were tested. Classification of juice samples was carried out using unsupervised and supervised statistical methods. As chemometric methods, Hierarchical Cluster Analysis, Classification Tree, Naïve Bayes, Neural Network, and Random Forest classifiers were used. The ultra-fast GC technique coupled with supervised statistical methods allowed to distinguish juice samples containing only 1.0% of impurities. The developed methodology is a promising analytical tool to ensure the authenticity and good quality of juices. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.].