Determination of the Geographic Origin of Onions between Three Main Production Areas in Japan and Other Countries by Mineral Composition

Abstract

Onions (Allium cepa L.) are produced in many countries and are one of the most popular vegetables in the world, thus leading to an enormous amount of international trade. It is currently important that a scientific technique be developed for determining geographic origin as a means to detect fraudulent labeling. We have therefore developed a technique based on mineral analysis and linear discriminant analysis (LDA). The onion samples used in this study were from Hokkaido, Hyogo, and Saga, which are the primary onion-growing areas in Japan, and those from countries that export onions to Japan (China, the United States, New Zealand, Thailand, Australia, and Chile). Of 309 samples, 108 were from Hokkaido, 52 were from Saga, 77 were from Hyogo, and 72 were from abroad. Fourteen elements (Na, Mg, P, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Rb, Sr, Mo, Cd, Cs, and Ba) in the samples were determined by frame atomic adsorption spectrometry, inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry, and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The models established by LDA were used to discriminate the geographic origin between Hokkaido and abroad, Hyogo and abroad, and Saga and abroad. Ten-fold cross-validations were conducted using these models. The discrimination accuracies obtained by cross-validation between Hokkaido and abroad were 100 and 86%, respectively. Those between Hyogo and abroad were 100 and 90%, respectively. Those between Saga and abroad were 98 and 90%, respectively. In addition, it was demonstrated that the fingerprint of an element pattern from a specific production area, which a crop receives, did not easily change by the variations of fertilization, crop year, variety, soil type, and production year if appropriate elements were chosen.

Agronomic and nutritional characteristics of three buckwheat cultivars under organic farming in three environments of the Garfagnana mountain district

“…This could be explained by a higher concentration of these elements in the smaller achenes characteristic of this cultivar. In general, the trend observed in studies on other plant species (Ariyama et al, 2007;Manzelli et al, 2010) was confirmed, indicating a higher influence of the environment, with respect to genotype, on the mineral content.…”

“…Ash content [% dry matter (DM)] was determined in three replicates for each sample after incineration in a muffle furnace at 550°C, according to the official (Padín et al, 2001;Ariyama et al, 2007;Di Giacomo et al, 2007). Flour samples were digested with HNO3 [0.5 g in 10 mL of 7:3 (v/v) ultra-pure HNO3/Milli-Q H2O] in a microwave accelerated reaction system (Model MARS 6; CEM Corp., Matthews, NC, USA).…”

“…The aim of this research was to compare different varieties of buckwheat grown under organic conditions in different locations to evaluate differences in principal biometric data N o n c o m m e r c i a l u s e o n l y and production yields. Another purpose of this study was to evaluate the possibility to differentiate samples of buckwheat flour according to their geographical origin by means of chemical analysis and especially by their content in mineral elements, as already recognised in several works on many other plant species (Anderson and Smith, 2002;Ariyama et al, 2007;Di Giacomo et al, 2007).…”

Food traceability using the 87Sr/86Sr isotopic ratio mass spectrometry

“…In accordance with past studies [49][50][51], the use of multielemental analysis required accurate statistical data treatment. Initially, three main groups were defined by means of an agglomerative hierarchical cluster (AHC).…”

Analysis of High Solid Content in Biological Samples by Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometry

“…These slurry samples were properly diluted in 5% V/V HNO 3 to aid the analyte extraction to the aqueous phase, to carry out the determination of copper and zinc by flame atomic absorption spectrometry, following a procedure reported by Marco et al, 2003. 1.2 Determination of calcium, potassium, manganese, iron, copper and zinc levels in representative samples of two onion cultivars by flame atomic absorption spectrometry using ultrasonic assisted leaching The onion is one of the most important cultivars in the world. The determination of major, minor and trace element levels is an important tool for the enhancement of production efficiency in the field of agriculture, provenance, and contamination risk evaluation (Ariyama et al, 2007;Abdullahi et al, 2008;Abdullahi et al, 2009). There is a necessity for new analysis methods and simple sample preparation procedures.…”