Use of compositional analysis to distinguish farmed and wild gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata)

Abstract

Recent food scares have emphasized the need for traceability in the food chain. This is particularly true in the fish sector, where a large difference in the final price between wild and farmed fish and even between farmed fish reared in different countries exists. So for these commercial and hygienic reasons it is very important to find useful tools for the characterization of quality of fish and for the differentiation of fish from different production methods and from different countries, in accordance with EC Regulation No. 2065/2001 and Italian Ministry of Agriculture Decree No. 27.03.02, that allow retail trade of fishery and aquaculture products only against the indication of the official commercial name, the method of production and the geographical origin of fish (Moretti et al., 2003).

Keywords

• gilthead seabream, fatty acids, principal component analysis, linear discriminant analysis