Methods to detect color imitation of red wines

Abstract

The most traditional object of falsification, taking into account the volume of consumption and cost, is wine. A significant proportion of adulteration of red wines accounts for the imitation of their color by introducing color compounding ingredients to white base wine: synthetic coloring agents, natural food coloring agents, or products with a secondary coloring effect. The purpose of this research was to study physicochemical parameters of original red wines and fakes obtained using coloring agents of different origin. It was shown that monomeric anthocyanins were absent in model systems with the addition of synthetic coloring agents, and the extinction maximum did not correspond to the wavelength of 520 nm, typical for original wines. It was found that, regardless of the nature of color compounding ingredient, the content of phenolic substances in model samples did not exceed 900 mg/l. The mass concentration of monomeric anthocyanins in model samples with the addition of natural coloring agent did not exceed 2% of the total amount of phenolic substances. Therefore, the quantitative content of monomeric anthocyanins, phenolic substances, spectral characteristics can be recommended as criteria in a plan of actions to identify the authenticity of juice and wine products.