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The aim of this paper was to study the fatty acid composition of total and "free" lipids in powdered infant milks and to evaluate the fatty acid oxidation after package opening. In its first step the application of Principal Component Analysis and Design of Experiments has allowed to take a comprehensive picture of powdered infant formulas on sale in Italy on the basis of their labelled composition and to select a limited number of representative samples. Both total and "non encapsulated" or "free" lipids were considered and analysed and no significant differences were found between their fatty acids contents. The possible modification of the fatty acid composition in the "free" lipids caused by oxidation was also studied, simulating the domestic habits after opening. No significant changes were observed up to 30 days even when formulas had an high content of unsaturated fatty acids and valuable Long Chain Polyunsaturated fatty acids.

This paper describes the development and application of a new analytical method for the analysis of the volatile fractions of pesto , a typical Italian basil-based pasta sauce, and its ingredients. The extraction of the volatile fraction was realized by headspace sorptive extraction (HSSE) and the extracted volatiles were then thermodesorbed, cryoconcentrated in a cooled injector and analysed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. This study shows that despite the great variability detected in the composition of the volatile fractions of several samples of “Pesto Genovese”, the ingredients traditionally used in pesto preparation (basil, pine nuts, walnuts, cheese, extra-virgin olive oil and garlic) give a significant and distinctive contribution to the pesto volatile fraction. Thus, the HSSE analysis of “Pesto Genovese” could be very useful for a careful control of the composition of this valuable niche product.

Consumer demand for pomegranate juice has considerably grown, during the last years, for its potential health benefits. Since it is an expensive functional food, cheaper fruit juices addition (i.e., grape and apple juices) or its simple dilution, or polyphenols subtraction are deceptively used. At present, time-consuming analyses are used to control the quality of this product. Furthermore these analyses are expensive and require well-trained analysts. Thus, the purpose of this study was to propose a high-speed and easy-to-use shortcut. Based on UV–VIS spectroscopy and chemometrics, a screening method is proposed to quickly screening some common fillers of pomegranate juice that could decrease the antiradical scavenging capacity of pure products. The analytical method was applied to laboratory prepared juices, to commercial juices and to representative experimental mixtures at different levels of water and filler juices. The outcomes were evaluated by means of multivariate exploratory analysis. The results indicate that the proposed strategy can be a useful screening tool to assess addition of filler juices and water to pomegranate juices.