Detection and Quantification of Tomato Paste Adulteration Using Conventional and Rapid Analytical Methods
Flora Vitalis,
John-Lewis Zinia Zaukuu,
Zsanett Bodor,
Balkis Aouadi,
Géza Hitka,
Timea Kaszab,
Viktoria Zsom-Muha,
Zoltan Gillay,
Zoltan Kovacs
Affiliations
Flora Vitalis
Institute of Bioengineering and Process Control, Department of Measurements and Process Control, Faculty of Food Science, Szent István University, 1118 Budapest, Hungary
John-Lewis Zinia Zaukuu
Institute of Bioengineering and Process Control, Department of Measurements and Process Control, Faculty of Food Science, Szent István University, 1118 Budapest, Hungary
Zsanett Bodor
Institute of Bioengineering and Process Control, Department of Measurements and Process Control, Faculty of Food Science, Szent István University, 1118 Budapest, Hungary
Balkis Aouadi
Institute of Bioengineering and Process Control, Department of Measurements and Process Control, Faculty of Food Science, Szent István University, 1118 Budapest, Hungary
Géza Hitka
Institute of Food Technology, Department of Postharvest, Commercial and Sensory Science, Faculty of Food Science, Szent István University, 1118 Budapest, Hungary
Timea Kaszab
Institute of Bioengineering and Process Control, Department of Measurements and Process Control, Faculty of Food Science, Szent István University, 1118 Budapest, Hungary
Viktoria Zsom-Muha
Institute of Bioengineering and Process Control, Department of Measurements and Process Control, Faculty of Food Science, Szent István University, 1118 Budapest, Hungary
Zoltan Gillay
Institute of Bioengineering and Process Control, Department of Measurements and Process Control, Faculty of Food Science, Szent István University, 1118 Budapest, Hungary
Zoltan Kovacs
Institute of Bioengineering and Process Control, Department of Measurements and Process Control, Faculty of Food Science, Szent István University, 1118 Budapest, Hungary
Tomato, and its concentrate are important food ingredients with outstanding gastronomic and industrial importance due to their unique organoleptic, dietary, and compositional properties. Various forms of food adulteration are often suspected in the different tomato-based products causing major economic and sometimes even health problems for the farmers, food industry and consumers. Near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy and electronic tongue (e-tongue) have been lauded as advanced, high sensitivity techniques for quality control. The aim of the present research was to detect and predict relatively low concentration of adulterants, such as paprika seed and corn starch (0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10%), sucrose and salt (0.5, 1, 2, 5%), in tomato paste using conventional (soluble solid content, consistency) and advanced analytical techniques (NIR spectroscopy, e-tongue). The results obtained with the conventional methods were analyzed with univariate statistics (ANOVA), while the data obtained with advanced analytical methods were analyzed with multivariate methods (Principal component analysis (PCA), linear discriminant analysis (LDA), partial least squares regression (PLSR). The conventional methods were only able to detect adulteration at higher concentrations (5–10%). For NIRS and e-tongue, good accuracies were obtained, even in identifying minimal adulterant concentrations (0.5%). Comparatively, NIR spectroscopy proved to be easier to implement and more accurate during our evaluations, when the adulterant contents were estimated with R2 above 0.96 and root mean square error (RMSE) below 1%.
