Across
food and supplement industries, there is a growing trend toward products
comprised of natural ingredients. As manufacturers strive to offer
“natural” products to consumers, adulteration of ingredients
with cheaper synthetic alternatives becomes a concern. This perspective
highlights the application of carbon-14 analysis to screen for potential
adulteration of natural ingredients, such as garlic oil. Carbon-14
testing determines if a product is comprised of solely plant- or animal-based
ingredients by measuring the percentage of biomass versus petrochemical-derived
sources. Through comparison to other analytical techniques used for
quality control, carbon-14 testing stands out as being able to detect
petrochemical-derived nature-identical compounds.
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