Rapid Discrimination and Authentication of Korean Farmstead Mozzarella Cheese through MALDI-TOF and Multivariate Statistical Analysis

Abstract

Geographical origin and authenticity are the two crucial factors that propel overall cheese perception in terms of quality and price; therefore, they are of great importance to consumers and commercial cheese producers. Herein, we demonstrate a rapid, accurate method for discrimination of domestic and import mozzarella cheeses in the Republic of Korea by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). The protein profiles’ data aided by multivariate statistical analysis successfully differentiated farmstead and import mozzarella cheeses according to their geographical location of origin. A similar investigation within domestic samples (farmsteads/companies) also showed clear discrimination regarding the producer. Using the biomarker discovery tool, we identified seven distinct proteins, of which two (m/z 7407.8 and 11,416.6) were specific in farmstead cheeses, acting as potential markers to ensure authentication and traceability. The outcome of this study can be a good resource in building a database for Korean domestic cheeses. This study also emphasizes the combined utility of MALDI-TOF MS and multivariate analysis in preventing fraudulent practices, thereby ensuring market protection for Korean farmstead cheeses.

Rapid analysis technologies with chemometrics for food authenticity field: A review

“…PLS-DA has been demonstrated for all of the rapid analysis techniques mentioned in this paper, and it is the main classification algorithm currently applied to in situ mass spectrometry data. The PLS-DA model discriminated between Korean and non-Korean cheese samples with 100% accuracy by analyzing the proteomic data obtained via MALDI-MS ( Kandasamy et al, 2021 ).…”

“…The analysis of animal-derived samples is mainly based on their protein omics data. Kandasamy et al (2021) successfully differentiated the geographic origin of mozzarella cheese from Korean farms and non-Korean mozzarella cheese using protein profiling data collected via MALDI-MS combined with multivariate statistical analysi. This method can also distinguish cheese from farms and companies within Korea.…”

Discrimination of Geographical Origin of Agricultural Products From Small-Scale Districts by Widely Targeted Metabolomics With a Case Study on Pinggu Peach

“…Omics-based technologies, such as metabolomics, related to the strength of massive molecular tools can help circumvent the limitations of traditional methodologies, and therefore are being developed for the authentication of a wide range of food commodities, such as organic carrot authentication ( 18 ), food ingredient authenticity ( 19 ), geographical origins of oranges and shrimps, wine and cheese origin discrimination ( 20 – 23 ), and fruit juice authenticity ( 24 , 25 ). Widely targeted metabolomics analysis is a novel approach that integrates the advantages of nontargeted and targeted metabolites.…”

Data_Sheet_1.pdf

“…Omics-based technologies, such as metabolomics, related to the strength of massive molecular tools can help circumvent the limitations of traditional methodologies, and therefore are being developed for the authentication of a wide range of food commodities, such as organic carrot authentication (18), food ingredient authenticity (19), geographical origins of oranges and shrimps, wine and cheese origin discrimination (20)(21)(22)(23), and fruit juice authenticity (24,25). Widely targeted metabolomics analysis is a novel approach that integrates the advantages of nontargeted and targeted metabolites.…”