| ASSESSING THE AUTHENTICITY OF VINEGAR BY COMBINED 2H-SNIF-NMR AND 13C-IRMS ANALYSIS |
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ASSESSING THE AUTHENTICITY OF VINEGAR BY COMBINED 2H-SNIF-NMR AND 13C-IRMS ANALYSIS
Raluca Popescu*, Oana Botoran, Diana Costinel, Roxana Elena Ionete
National Research and Development Institute for Cryogenics and Isotopic Technologies - ICSI Rm. Valcea, Uzinei Street no. 4, P.O. Box Râureni 7, 240050, Râmnicu Vâlcea, Romania
ABSTRACT
Vinegar is a wide consumed product used as acidifying or preserving agent in different food products and can be derived from a diversity of raw materials like grapes, grape must, apples, honey, fruits, cereals, maize, rice, etc. Although it is not a very expensive product, there are some vinegars highly appreciated and sold on the market, such as balsamic vinegar, fruit vinegars or vinegars with geographical indication (PGI), making this product attractive to adulteration. The paper describes the capability of the deuterium and carbon-13 fingerprint, measured by 2H-SNIF-NMR and 13C-IRMS, to discriminate vinegars according to source, natural (C3/C4 plants) or synthetic. Literature data with reference values for the authentication of vinegars is also presented. From the set of nine samples, four showed a natural source, four a synthetic source, while one was a mixture of them. The isotopic fingerprint proved an efficient tool for the control of vinegar authenticity and adulteration.
Keywords: vinegar, isotopic fingerprint, SNIF-NMR, IRMS.
________________________ *Corresponding author: Raluca Popescu, E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , phone: 0250 732744, fax: 0250 732746 |