Applicazione di metodi molecolari e di fingerprinting dei composti volatili per analisi di autenticità in spezie ed erbe aromatiche

The term “food” does not only indicate a nutritive concept, but it contains within itself an ethical, religious and cultural meaning, themes that are strongly felt by the public opinion. Food frauds, since ancient times, have always been considered criminal acts to be punished. Several different types of frauds can be associated to foods. Due to the relevance of this topic, continuous efforts have been made to the technological improvement of new techniques, faster and more accurate, able to detect potential adulteration in food. The aim of this work is to find and to optimize different analytical methods, such as DNA barcoding and fingerprinting of volatile compounds, for the identification of plant species in samples of spices, such as saffron, and aromatic herbs. Concerning the DNA-based methods, the identification of species through DNA, called DNA barcoding, features high specificity and sensitivity. In this work, DNA samples were amplified and sequenced either with capillary electrophoresis (Sanger method) and with Ion Torrent next generation sequencing (NGS) technology. In addition to DNA-based analysis, chemical methods can be employed for the authentication and traceability of several foods. In this study, the analysis of volatile compounds was performed by ultra-fast gas chromatography (Heracles II GC) and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Data obtained with these methods were used for the statistical analysis based on chemometric approaches (PCA and LDA). We can conclude that a synergistic study, including biological and chemical analysis, represents a powerful tool to identify food authenticity and frauds: analyses are simple, economically affordable, non-contaminating, quick and automated. Moreover, the approach used in this study could be improved by adding new samples of spices and aromatic herbs, in order to obtain more reliable results.