No abstract

Yellow flesh peaches (Prunus persica L.) from different Sicilian areas (Leonforte, Riesi and Maniace) were investigated for the first time for their polyphenolic composition, with consideration of both peel and flesh tissues. The qualitative and quantitative polyphenolic evaluation was determined at two different maturity stages (commercial and postharvest ripening) via chromatographic separation by using reverse‐phase HPLC‐PDA‐ESI/MS 2. This technique provides a comprehensive chromatographic evaluation of 10 compounds (hydroxycinnamates and flavonols), differently distributed in the analyzed tissues. Overall, the hydroxycinnamates were present in both pulp and peel, while flavonols resulted exclusively located in the peel. Peels were found to be richest in polyphenolics with respect to the pulps, containing up to 276 mg/kg fresh weight in Riesi commercial‐ripe peaches. Generally, the peach tissues from commercial‐ripe fruits showed higher phenolics contents than postharvest‐ripe fruits. Practical Applications It is well documented that the benefits due to the consumption of fruit can be largely attributed to the elevated content of phenolic compounds. High levels of phenolic compounds in fruits are of high importance to maintain the quality of fruits and provide consumers the health benefits of fruit consumption. Thus, the assessment of the distribution of phenolic compounds in various parts of the peach fruit and any variations due at the time of collection are considered interesting from a scientific point of view. The characterization of peach phenolics could represent a useful tool in the area of food authenticity protection since some compounds could represent specific quality markers. Moreover, a study on phenolics quantification at different ripening stages could provide useful information for assessing the fruit harvest timing in order to ensure the best fruit quality.

No abstract

No abstract

The present study evaluated the reliability of the ISO/TS 3632-2 UV-Vis spectrometric method for saffron classification, making experiments on saffron samples to which were added increasing concentrations of common saffron spice adulterants (safflower, marigold and turmeric). The results showed that the ISO/TS 3632-2 method is not able to detect addition of up to 10-20%, w/w, of saffron adulterants. For additions from 20 to 50%, w/w, of the three adulterants, saffron was classified in a wrong category; addition of higher than 50%, w/w, determined variations in the investigated parameters that did not allow identification of the product as "saffron". In all cases, the method did not permit the recognition of the nature of the adulterant. On the contrary, the specificity of the HPLC/PDA/MS technique allowed the unequivocal identification of adulterant characteristic marker molecules that could be recognized by the values of absorbance and mass. The selection of characteristic ions of each marker molecule has revealed concentrations of up to 5%, w/w, for safflower and marigold and up to 2% for turmeric. In addition, the high dyeing power of turmeric allowed the determination of 2%, w/w, addition using exclusively the HPLC/PDA technique.