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Geographical origin and authenticity of food are topics of interest for both consumers and producers. Among the different indicators used for traceability studies, n(87Sr)/n(86Sr) isotopic ratio has provided excellent results. In this study, the production chains of the balsamic vinegars of the Modena province, the Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena (ABTM) and the industrially made Aceto Balsamico di Modena (ABM) were investigated by using the n(87Sr)/n(86Sr) indicator. The geographical origin of the starting raw materials for the ABM production was investigated, as well as the variability of ABM samples of different production years, namely 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2014. The results show no significant variability among ABM samples of different production years and highlight the possibility to distinguish this product from the ABTM. Furthermore, the investigated indicator also confirms an objective link of the food with its starting raw material and the territory of origin of the grapes, assessing the discriminating power of n(87Sr)/n(86Sr) ratio for geographical traceability studies.

This study summarizes the results obtained from a systematic and long-term project aimed at the development of tools to assess the provenance of food in the oenological sector. In particular, 87Sr/86Sr isotope ratios were measured on statistically representative set of soils, vine branches and wines sampled in the production district of Modena, worldwide known for the Lambrusco wines production. The obtained data were used to build strontium isotopic maps able to objectively support the Lambrusco PDO wines origin as well as other products of the Modena district. Finally, a strong relationship was found between the 87Sr/86Sr isotope ratios of soils and vine branches on a large scale, highlighting and confirming once more the idea that plants can also represent an optimal sampling device to support geographical traceability.

In the development of a geographical traceability model, it is necessary to understand if the value of the monitored indicators in a food is correlated to its origin or if it is also influenced by 'external factors' such as those coming from its production. In this study, a deeper investigation of the trend of direct geographical traceability indicators along the winemaking process of two traditional oenological products was carried out. Different processes were monitored, sampling each step of their production (grape juice, intermediate products and wine). The results related to the determinations of δ(18)O, (D/H)I, (D/H)II, δ(13)C, δ(15)N and (87)Sr/(86)Sr have been reported. Furthermore, correspondence with the isotopic values coming from the respective soil and vine-branch samples have been investigated as well, showing the optimal traceability power of the monitored geographical tracers.

Palaeoarchaean cherts preserve some of the most ancient traces of life, but such palaeobiological testament is rarely assimilated into fossil-calibrated ecosystem or biome models. Trace and rare earth element plus yttrium (REE+Y) compositions reliably decode the palaeodepositional settings of these cherts, and thus constrain the environments within which early microbial life flourished. Herein, we present a systematic study comparing bulk inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) of four cherts from the Barberton greenstone belt, South Africa (the 3.472 Ga Middle Maker horizon, 3.45 Ga Hooggenoeg H5c chert, 3.334 Ga Footbridge Chert and ~3.33 Ga Josefsdal Chert), with in situ laser ablation (LA) ICP-MS transects through multiple microbial laminations therein. In situ analyses can be interpreted in the framework of bulk analyses, correlating microbial biomes to their regional and local geochemical environments. Bulk ICP-MS analyses typically exhibit fractionated REE+Y patterns typical of anoxic hydrogenous sedimentation when normalised to Mud from Queensland (MUQ), supporting previous assertions that the Palaeoarchaean habitable realm was a hydrothermally influenced ocean. Suppressed La, Eu and Y anomalies, together with largely supra-chondritic Y/Ho ratios, however, indicate some degree of restriction from the open ocean and the influence of non-marine waters. In situ LA ICP-MS transects through microbial mat horizons are characterised by flat, LREE-enriched MUQ-normalised REE+Y patterns indicating strong non-marine influences from terrigenous, riverine fluids, although recurrent resurgences of marine REE+Y chemistry (increased Y/Ho ratios, La and Y anomalies) occur within the microbial laminations themselves. These findings show that widespread microbial life developed in semi-restricted basins with strong terrigenous, continental influences from mixed mafic and felsic erosion sources (estimated by trace element compositions and Cr/V versus Y/Ni trace element plots). Periodic seawater recharge into these basins generated disequilibrium conditions under which microbial life flourished. This systematic approach highlights both the development of emergent, volcanic, continental landmasses in the Palaeoarchaean, and their influence as loci for early microbial biomes, more than 100 Ma before the earliest evidence for large-scale terrestrial ecosystems. Throughout the Palaeoarchaean, semi-restricted, epicontinental basins represent an important, hitherto unrecognised, microbial habitat for some of the earliest photosynthetic life and may have been a precursor and contemporary to terrestrial microbial ecosystems, such as the lacustrine and riverine biomes identified in Mesoarchaean and Neoarchaean sequences. Understanding the distribution of Archaean life in terms of biomes should form a keystone of the strategy for Precambrian palaeoecology. The relative importance of biomes through time could, if accounting for the preservation potentials of individual palaeoenvironments, illuminate microbial evolutionary trajectories through the lens of environmental reconstruction.

This study summarizes the results obtained from a systematic and long-term project aimed at the development of tools to assess the provenance of food in the oenological sector. In particular

Cooked must is the starting raw material used to produce Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale (ABT). It is obtained from grape musts that are condensed by a gentle simmering in uncovered pans over an open fire. Concentrations of fructose, glucose, furfural and 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) during must preparation were evaluated as quality indicator of the final product. High pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) technique was used for the determination of the analytes content in cooked musts sampled at different time during their preparation. Two varieties of grapes (Trebbiano Montanaro and Salamino), and different cooking apparatus were tested by using vats with different surface/volume ratio. The concentrations of the analytical species were found to be dependent on both the kind of grape and the cooking technology. Sugars concentration increases during cooking following almost a linear trend; on the contrary, furfural compounds, produced by monosaccharides degradation, significantly increase with an exponential trend only in the final step of the process. The analytical method gives good recovery values for all the investigated species, ranging from 91% to 104 %.

The effect of different dietary fat supplements: A, no added fat; B, 3% added lard and C, 3% added partially hydrogenated lard (PHL), were evaluated in dry cured Parma ham fat by determination of the lipid oxidation indices, R1 and R2, on a total of 30 Italian Landrace×Italian Large White pigs. Furthermore, correlations between lipid oxidation and calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc, copper and nickel concentrations, determined in Parma ham fat, was also investigated. Results highlighted a correlation between the oxidative state of Parma ham fat and the pigs' diet; in particular the addition of 3% PHL led to a more stable depot fat towards lipid oxidation compared to the addition of lard. Finally, Parma ham fat from treatment C showed higher concentrations of Ca (p0.01) and Mg (p0.05) compared to those from control, A, and treatment B groups. On the contrary, no significant differences were found for Fe, Zn, Cu and Ni.

By using the experimental design (DoE) technique, we optimized an analytical method for the determination of mercury isotope ratios by means of cold-vapor multicollector ICP-MS (CV-MC-ICP-MS) to provide absolute Hg isotopic ratio measurements with a suitable internal precision. By running 32 experiments, the influence of mercury and thallium internal standard concentrations, total measuring time and sample flow rate was evaluated. Method was optimized varying Hg concentration between 2 and 20 ng g(-1). The model finds out some correlations within the parameters affect the measurements precision and predicts suitable sample measurement precisions for Hg concentrations from 5 ng g(-1) Hg upwards. The method was successfully applied to samples of Manila clams (Ruditapes philippinarum) coming from the Marano and Grado lagoon (NE Italy), a coastal environment affected by long term mercury contamination mainly due to mining activity. Results show different extents of both mass dependent fractionation (MDF) and mass independent fractionation (MIF) phenomena in clams according to their size and sampling sites in the lagoon. The method is fit for determinations on real samples, allowing for the use of Hg isotopic ratios to study mercury biogeochemical cycles in complex ecosystems.

Geographical origin and authenticity of food are topics of interest for both consumers and producers. Among the different indicators used for traceability studies, (87)Sr/(86)Sr isotopic ratio has provided excellent results. In this study, two analytical approaches for wine sample pre-treatment, microwave and low temperature mineralisation, were investigated to develop accurate and precise analytical method for (87)Sr/(86)Sr determination. The two procedures led to comparable results (paired t-test, with t

Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale of Modena (ABTM) is a typical product (PDO denomination) of the province of Modena produced by cooked grape must which undergoes a long ageing period (at least 12 years) in series of wooden casks (batterie). The study of the transformations of this product during ageing is extremely relevant in order to control the authenticity of ABTM towards succedaneous products and mislabelling of age. This paper presents the results of the investigation of sugars and fixed organic acids in ABTM samples of different ages, coming from different batterie. The analytes were simultaneously determined by a gas chromatographic method optimised for this peculiar matrix. The method shows good separation and resolution of the investigated chemical species and allows their determination in the concentration ranges reported in brackets: malic (7.6-15.5 g kg(-1)), tartaric (4.0-9.7 g kg(-1)), citric (0.6-1.5 g kg(-1)) and succinic (0.36-0.62 g kg(-1)) acid and glucose (153-294 g kg(-1)), fructose (131-279 g kg(-1)), xylose (011-0.39 g kg(-1)), ribose (0.078-0.429 g kg(-1)), rhamnose (0.061-0.195 g kg(-1)), galactose (0.136-0.388 g kg(-1)), mannose (0.41-1.46 g kg(-1)), arabinose (0.33-1.00 g kg(-1)) and sucrose (0.46-6.84 g kg(-1)), with mean associated errors ranging from 5 to 19% depending on the analytes. Moreover, the recovery values are always satisfactory, being close to one for most of the analytes. Furthermore, in order to assess the degree of variability of the different analytes content with vinegar ageing and the similarity/dissimilarity among series of casks a three-way data analysis method (Tucker3) is proposed. The chemometric technique applied on the data set shows differences between the samples on the bases of their different ageing period, and between the batterie, which traditionally have an own peculiar production procedure.

The presence of some essential and toxic metals in fat supplements for swine diet was investigated. Collected samples represented a relevant production of the Italian industry. In particular, some samples were enriched with antioxidants or waste cooking oils. The method for the determination of Ca, Cu, Cd, Fe, Mg, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn in fat samples was developed by means of a certified reference material (CRM 186) and a representative fatty sample (RFS). All samples were digested in closed vessels in a microwave oven and then analyzed by flame atomic absorption or graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry. The entire analytical method provided a satisfactory repeatability and reproducibility confirmed by agreement between the experimental recovery data obtained for the CRM 186 sample and, with the method of standard additions, for the RFS material. The samples generally showed a small amount of metals compared with the recommended daily intake for the essential elements. On the other hand, some samples contained a significant concentration, from an analytical point of view, of Cd, Ni, and Pb. Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to inspect the experimental data obtained from samples analysis. Basically no differences were detected in terms of metal concentration among the fat supplements analyzed.

The static dielectric constant (e) of ethane-1,2-diol+1,2-dimethoxyethane + water ternary mixtures was measured as a function of temperature (263.15 ≤ T (K) ≤ 353.15) and composition, over the complete mole fraction range 0 ≤ x 1, x 2, x 3≤ 1. The experimental values were analyzed by empirical relationships that accounted for the dependence e = e(T) and Y = Y(x i). A comparison between calculated and experimental data shows that these fitting relationships can be reliably used to predict e values, along with other related properties, in areas of experimental data gaps. Starting from the experimental measurements, some derived quantities such as molar orientational polarization (P), dipolar interaction free energy ( F μ) and the relevant thermodynamic excess mixing properties (F μ E, F―E μ,i), were obtained. The values of the excess quantities are indicative of the presence of specific interactions between different components in the mixtures. A discussion of data in terms of the Kirkwood theory also provides information on the short-range intermolecular interactions, suggesting the formation of stable two-:component adducts rather than of more complex moieties involving all three molecular species.

A novel feature selection and classification algorithm (WPTER) based on the wavelet packet transform has been applied to the discrimination of balsamic vinegars, namely the typical made “Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena”, which gained the PDO denomination on the year 2000, from the industrial made “Aceto Balsamico” of the Modena district. All the samples have been characterized on the basis of the gas chromatographic (GC) profiles of the headspace (HS) volatile fraction, sampled by solid phase microextraction (SPME). Good discrimination between the two categories has been obtained both for the calibration and for the test set samples. GC-MS analysis allowed the identification of the peaks lying in the chromatographic regions selected by the algorithm, giving useful suggestions about the compounds which may be worth of further investigation in order to rationalize the chemical transformation occurring during the traditional making procedure. The proposed methodology seems very promising in authentication tasks, coupling some of the advantages of blind analysis with the possibility of acquiring chemical information, and giving, at the same time, very parsimonious multivariate classification models, which can be particularly suitable for data storage and handling.

The density of the 2-chloroethanol (CE) + 2-methoxyethanol (ME) + 1,2-dimethoxye- thane (DME) ternary mixtures has been measured at different temperatures ranging from −10 to 80°C, and over the entire composition range. The experimental data have been used to check the validity of some relationships accounting for the dependence of the density on temperature and composition domains. Starting from the primary data, some derived quantities, such as excess molar volumes VE, partial molar volumes \(\bar V_{\text{i}} \) and partial excess molar volumes \(\bar V_{\text{i}}^E \), have been obtained. In these mixtures, VE is always positive for the [CE(1) + ME(2)] binaries, while it is generally negative at all other experimental conditions, showing the greatest deviations along the binary axes corresponding to the binary subsystems in the sequence [CE(1) + DME(2)] < [CE(1) + ME(2)] < [ME(1) + DME(2)]. The results are compared and discussed to in terms of changes in molecular association and structural effects in these solvent systems.

Density refractive index n and the related properties molar volume V and molar refraction R have been investigated for 2-butanone + n-hexane liquid binary mixtures over the entire composition range and a wide range of temperatures. Some well-known relationships have been applied to study the temperature and composition dependence of the measured and derived quantities. Furthermore, the deviations of the respective excess properties VE, nE, and RE have been examined, with the aim of identifying particular intermolecular interaction patterns responsible for the macroscopic behavior of these binary mixtures. The results have been interpreted on the basis of structural and geometric effects between the components.

The present research is aimed at monitoring the evolution of the volatile organic compounds of different samples of aceto balsamico tradizionale of modena (ABTM) during ageing. The flavouring compounds, headspace fraction, of the vinegars of four batterie were sampled by solid phase microextraction technique (SPME), and successively analysed by gas chromatography. Obtaining a data set characterized by different sources of variability such as, different producers, samples of different age and chromatographic profile. The gas chromatographic signals were processed by a three-way data analysis method (Tucker3), which allows an easy visualisation of the data by furnishing a distinct set of graphs for each source of variability. The obtained results indicate that the samples can be separated according to their age highlighting the chemical constituents, which play a major role for their differentiation. The present study represents an example of how the application of Tucker3 models, on gas chromatographic signals may help to follow the transformation processes of food products.

In this paper, the temperature and composition dependencies of the volumetric behavior are studied for the ethane-1,2-diol + 2-methoxyethanol + 1,2-dimethoxyethane + water quaternary system. Density data were collected at different temperatures ranging from −10 to 80 ∘C and at atmospheric pressure over the whole composition range, 0≤ x i (i = 1, 2, 3, 4)≤ 1. Moreover, we also made use of the results on the six binary (ij) and four ternary (kij) subsystems studied previously. The excess molar volume (V E ) data have been fitted to an equation derived from the well-known Redlich–Kister equation and some interesting correlations were found. Furthermore, in order to represent in an effective way the behavior of the VE = VE(x i ) function (and of the derived partial molar quantities) in the quaternary domain, a new algorithm has been developed, which gives 3D plots where the dependent function is depicted by means of “colored slices” of the tetrahedron corresponding to the investigated composition quaternary domain.

Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena is a typical Italian food product of protected denomination of origin, obtained by alcoholic fermentation and acetic bio-oxidation of cooked musts, and it is aged for at least 12 years in series of wooden casks. The product suitable for marketing is qualified by sensory examination on the whole of 13 sensory parameters. In this study, a series of six casks for each of seven different producers have been investigated by an expert Panel of eight judges, aiming at (i) assessing the degree of variability of the different sensorial attributes with samples ageing, and (ii) evaluating the similarity/dissimilarity among the various parameters together with the degree of agreement of the panellists. Given the three-way nature of the data (samples × panellists × sensory attributes) the PARAFAC method has been used, and a satisfactory model was obtained, highlighting the efficacy of three-way analysis in dealing with the different sources of data variability, extracting the relevant information and displaying it in a simple and interpretable manner.

A comparison of different digestion procedures has been carried out for the analysis of metal concentration in samples of vinegars and Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale of Modena (ABTM) coming from an unique barrel set. In particular, classical wet, dry ashing, and closed vessel microwave digestion procedure have been utilized and compared for each investigated species. In a few cases, direct metal determination on ABTM (without treatment procedure) is proposed as possible alternative to sample manipulation. Flame atomic absorption spectrometry was used for the quantification of iron and zinc, while graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry was used for all the other elements (i.e., chromium, manganese, cobalt, nickel, copper, cadmium, and lead). The comparison among the different sample treatments was carried out by the use of statistical and chemometric tools. In particular, principal component analysis and ANOVA approaches were used to discriminate between the diverse analytical methods. Furthermore, for all the dissolving techniques, the analytical metal recovery was always evaluated by the application of the recovery function on the same sample matrix. In general, the recoveries were fairly good, ranging from 90 to 103%, except for Cd and Pb with dry ashing, which showed recovery values close to 55% and 67%, respectively. As regards the metals concentration of the investigated samples, the experimental data reveal for some species the presence of concentration slightly over the legal limit fixed for wine and wine vinegar.

This paper describes an approach for the colour-based classification of RGB images, taken with a common digital CCD camera on inhomogeneous food matrices. The aim was that of elaborating a feature selection/classification method independent of the specific food matrix that is analysed, in the sense that the variables that are the most relevant ones for the classification of the analysed samples are selected in a blind way, with no a priori assumptions on the basis of the nature of the considered food matrix. A one-dimensional signal describing the colour content of each acquired digital image, which we have called colourgram, is created as the contiguous sequence of the frequency distribution curves of the three red, green and blue colours values, of related parameters (also including hue, saturation and intensity) and of the scores values deriving from the PCA analysis of the unfolded 3D image array, together with the corresponding loadings values and eigenvalues. Once a sufficient number of digital images has been acquired, the corresponding colourgrams are then analysed by means of a feature selection/classification algorithm based on the wavelet transform, wavelet packet transform for efficient pattern recognition (WPTER). This approach was tested on a series of samples of “pesto”, a typical Italian vegetable pasta sauce, which presents high colour variability, mainly due to technological variables (raw materials, processes) and to the degradation of chlorophylls during storage. Good classification results (100% of correctly classified objects with very parsimonious models) have been obtained, also in comparison with the visual evaluation results of a panel test.

The kinematic viscosities (ν) of liquid binary mixtures of N,N-dimethylformamide and 1,2-dimethoxyethane were measured at 19 temperatures in the range −10⩽ t / °C ⩽ 80, employing the pure species and 9 their solutions covering the whole miscibility range expressed by the condition 0 ⩽ χi ⩽ 1. The measured values have been used to test some empirical equations of the type ν=ν(T), ν=ν(χi, and ν=ν(T,χi), in order to obtain useful correlation models with predictive ability in correspondence of the experimental data gaps. Starting from the experimental data, the excess kinematic viscosities (νE) have been calculated. Sign and magnitude of these quantities have been discussed in terms of type and nature of specific intermolecular interactions. Some derived quantities such as thermodynamic parameters of the viscous flow (ΔG∗, ΔH∗ and ΔS∗), have been calculated on the basis of Eyring's model. Furthermore, the fluidity of this binary solvent system was analysed and interpreted following Hildebrand and modified-Hildebrand correlation models.

The presence of carboxylic acids in grape products has been investigated for a long time by researchers, from both the qualitative and quantitative points of view. Evaluation of carboxylic acids requires the study and optimization of some operative variables which are strictly related to the matrix. In particular, the determination of organic acids in real matrixes such as Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale of Modena (ABTM; a traditional balsamic vinegar made from cooked grape must) is often difficult because of the presence of numerous interferences that need to be removed by separation techniques. To this aim, in the present work a solid-phase extraction (SPE) method with C18 and NH(2) exchangers was used to clean the ABTM samples prior to analysis or further treatments. Both HPLC and GC techniques were used to determine organic acids. The efficiency of these two different analytical techniques in the study of ABTM acidic composition has been evaluated. Both methods separately were not able to supply all the data related to carboxylic acids. In particular, HPLC allows acetic and lactic acids quantification, but gluconic and succinic acids are better determined by GC. As far as tartaric, citric, and malic acids are concerned, both HPLC and GC methods give statistically equivalent results. The variation of the single acidic species composition along a series of casks furnished interesting information regarding the chemical transformations taking place during the aging process of this product.