Stable isotope analysis of foods authenticity

Stable isotope ratio analysis is a science-based tool that is useful for tracking the geographical origin of food products. Isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) that traces minor changes in the abundance ratio of stable isotopes has blossomed at once due to the social needs that want to solve the problem of impersonating production areas. In particular, the stable isotope analysis of five major biochemical elements (H, C, N, O, S) is widely recognized as a scientific evidence-based assay technique for the problem of origin camouflage in food. Since 2000, approaches for tracking the geographical origin of foods such as honeys and cereals, based on the combined analysis of stable isotopes and trace elements, have also been reported. The discriminability of geographical origin among olive oils has been upgraded, due to the combination of stable isotope ratio analysis and trace element composition using three stable isotope elements (C, O, H) and 14 trace elements (Mg, K, Ca, V, Mn, Zn, Rb, Sr, Cs, La, Ce, Sm, Eu, U). In addition, the use of the combined analysis of different stable isotopes and trace elements derived from the growth environments is expected to enhance the validity as a diagnostic tool to enable the geographical origin tracing of food ingredients. (A.O.)