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The increasing demand for food due to the increase in world population, higher incomes and higher living standards, together with the appetite for illicit gains, as old as mankind on producers or retailers amid limited natural resources represent factors that now lead to an increased incidence of food fraud. The paper proposes a presentation of food frauds, referring to the Romanian food market, approached as part of the European market. The research uses information from the literature, European databases on food frauds, national or community official press releases on the suspected situations of food falsification. The results of the research have highlighted a small number of notifications from national authorities regarding the presence of falsified food products on the domestic market, although Romania is incriminated as origin / transit country for a series of falsified food found on the American market. Information about food fraud, methods for prevention or information of consumers are difficult to access or are absent from the websites of organizations with duties in the field. Improving the European fraud monitoring and control system after the horse meat scandal has led to the identification of multiple ways of falsifying food and feed. The most often defrauded products are the animal products, which generally have a higher value compared to products of vegetable origin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the "Baby Blues" highbush blueberry (Vaccinium) from the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) breeding program in Corvallis, Oregon. Topics include the origin of the highbush blueberry and the description and performance of the plant. Several tables are also presented.

The article offers information on the "McDonald" hazelnut (Corylus avellana L.) which was released by the Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station in January 2014. Topics include the origin of the hazelnut, the description of the plant, and its availability and legal protection under the U.S. Plant Patent. Several tables are also presented.

The intrinsic characteristics of chocolate and the complex technological process complicate the assessment of the typical features of this product and the verification of its authenticity. In this study, the influence of the botanical and geographical origin of the cocoa beans, as well as the impact of brand-related processing on the volatile organic compound (VOC) composition of the resulting chocolates was examined. A total of ninety dark chocolates available on the Dutch market were analysed using Proton-Transfer-Reaction-Mass Spectrometry (PTR-MS). The VOC profiles generated by PTR-MS (136 masses per sample) were used as fingerprints and investigated using chemometric tools to elucidate information on production factors of cocoa and subsequent processing, in the finished product. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed some clustering of the chocolates according to the botanical and geographical origins of beans as well as according to the brand. Partial least square discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) further discriminated the samples according to the three classes (botanical origin, geographical origin, brand) and the models with the best classification results were used to investigate the relevant masses for each class. PCA clustering and PLS-DA classification highlighted that chocolate profiles are strongly affected by the processing applied by the different brands. However, reflection of the botanical and geographical origins of the beans was also mirrored in the VOC composition of the chocolates. PTR-Time of Flight-MS (PTR-ToF-MS) was used to tentatively identify the VOCs of the chocolates. These measurements allowed the identification of 36 spectrometric peaks which relate to the main classes of chocolate odorant compounds, in particular, aldehydes and pyrazines, products of Maillard reactions. Several compounds already present in unroasted beans were tentatively identified in the chocolates as well, such as, acetic acid, methylpropanoic acid, 2- and 3-methylbutanoic acid, 2-phenylethanol, and tetramethylpyrazine. The results of this study emphasize the impact of the brand-related formulation and processing on VOC profiles of dark chocolates. However, using chemometrics, VOC reflection of the botanical origin and geographical origin of the beans in the chocolates was revealed, which may be useful for a future cocoa/chocolate traceability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering that the regional origin of foods can increase consumer acceptance, the relative importance of the designation of origin (DO) in the decision to purchase tomatoes in Temuco and Puerto Montt, Chile was evaluated, consumer segments were distinguished according to their preferences by administering a survey to 400 people. A conjoint analysis was used to determine that the variety of tomato (41.8%) was more important than DO (19.5%) and price (17.0%). Presentation and size were the least important attributes. Consumers preferred long-life tomatoes and in bunch, with Angol DO at the lowest price. A hierarchical cluster analysis distinguished three segments. The first (52.5%) was sensitive to variety. The second (13.0%) was also sensitive to variety, but they preferred to pay the highest price. The third (34.5%) was sensitive to price. All three segments preferred the tomato with Angol DO. The segments differed significantly according to gender, size of family group and level of satisfaction with their food-related life. The results indicate a good acceptance of tomatoes with Angol DO; however, particular relevance must be given to the variety of tomato produced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have indicated that China is one of the domestication centres of Asian cultivated rice ( Oryza sativa), and common wild rice ( O. rufipogon) is the progenitor of O. sativa. However, the number of domestication times and the geographic origin of Asian cultivated rice in China are still under debate. In this study, 100 accessions of Asian cultivated rice and 111 accessions of common wild rice in China were selected to examine the relationship between O. sativa and O. rufipogon and thereby infer the domestication and evolution of O. sativa in China through sequence analyses of six gene regions, trn C-ycf6 in chloroplast genomes, cox3 in mitochondrial genomes and ITS, Ehd1, Waxy, Hd1 in nuclear genomes. The results indicated that the two subspecies of O. sativa (indica and japonica) were domesticated independently from different populations of O. rufipogon with gene flow occurring later from japonica to indica; Southern China was the genetic diversity centre of O. rufipogon, and the Pearl River basin near the Tropic of Cancer was the domestication centre of O. sativa in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Giant reed ( Arundo donax) is a promising energy crop of the Mediterranean areas. It has long been associated with humans and has been cultivated in Asia, southern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East for thousands of years. It is a perennial herbaceous plant (Poaceae) found in grasslands and wetlands throughout a wide range of climatic zones. Amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analysis was used to assess genetic inter and intrarelationships between A. donax and other Arundo species. Furthermore, the development of the sexual apparatus was analysed to understand the basis of sterility in the accession examined. The dendrograms obtained by phenetic and cladistic analysis support the monophyletic origin of giant reed and suggest that it originated in Asia and began to spread into the Mediterranean without traces of hybridisation with the other Arundo species. In particular, samples from Mediterranean areas are characterisd by a lower gene diversity and incidence of rare AFLP fragments indicating that these populations are recent in origin. Moreover, results indicate the occurrence of post-meiotic alterations in the ovule and pollen developmental pathway. Thus, the success of giant reed can be attributed mainly to its rapid clonal spread by rhizome extension, flood dispersal of rhizome and culm fragments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The study of the prehistoric origins and dispersal routes of domesticated plants is often based on the analysis of either archaeobotanical or genetic data. As more data become available, spatially explicit models of crop dispersal can be used to combine different types of evidence. Methodology/Principal Findings: We present a model in which a crop disperses through a landscape that is represented by a conductance matrix. From this matrix, we derive least-cost distances from the geographical origin of the crop and use these to predict the age of archaeological crop remains and the heterozygosity of crop populations. We use measures of the overlap and divergence of dispersal trajectories to predict genetic similarity between crop populations. The conductance matrix is constructed from environmental variables using a number of parameters. Model parameters are determined with multiple-criteria optimization, simultaneously fitting the archaeobotanical and genetic data. The consilience reached by the model is the extent to which it converges around solutions optimal for both archaeobotanical and genetic data. We apply the modelling approach to the dispersal of maize in the Americas. Conclusions/Significance: The approach makes possible the integrative inference of crop dispersal processes, while controlling model complexity and computational requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. The retrogradation which occurs during the processes food storage is an essential problem in food industry. In this study, the ability to retrogradate of native starches and maltodextrins of different botanical origin was analysed. Material and methods. The materials were starches of various botanical origin, including commercial samples: potato, tapioca, wheat, corn, waxy corn starches, and laboratory isolated samples: triticale and rice starches. The above starches were used as material for laboratory production of maltodextrins of medium dextrose equivalents (DE in the range from 8.27 to 12.75). Starches were analysed for amylose content, while the ratio of nonbranched/ long-chain-branched to short-chain-branched fractions of maltodextrins was calculated from gel permeation chromatography data. The susceptibility to retrogradation of 2% starch pastes and 2% maltodextrin solutions was evaluated according to turbidimetric method of Jacobson. Results. The greatest starch in turbidance of starch gels was observed within initial of the test. days. Initial retrogradation degree of cereal starches was higher than that of tuber and root starches. The waxy corn starch was the least prone to retrogradate. The increase in turbidance of maltodextrin solutions were minimal. Waxy corn maltodextrin was not susceptible to retrogradation. Among other samples, the lowest susceptibility to retrogradation after 14 days was found for rice maltodextrin, while the highest for wheat and triticale maltodextrin. Conclusions. On the basis of this study, the retrogradation dependence on the kind of starches and the maltodextrins was established and the author stated that all the maltodextrinshave a much less ability to retrogradation than the native starches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on Valley Pearl table grape (Vitis vinifera L.). Topics discussed include the grape's origin which originated from a cross of table grape selections, A60-42 and C77-79, of the U. S. Agricultural Research Service (ARS), its production trial which began at the ARS San Joaquin Valley Center in Parlier, California in 2005,Agricultural and its availability.

Abstract: Ten SSR loci, previously developed for grapevine, were analyzed to evaluate the genetic variability, cultivar relatedness, and parentage in a collection of 61 autochthonous Vitis vinifera cultivars from Tunisia. The number of alleles per locus ranged from 6 to 11, while the number of genotype patterns varied between 10 and 21. The expected heterozygosity varied between 0.621 and 0.855 and the observed heterozygosity was higher than 0.9 at 4 loci (VVMD28, VVMD5, VVIP31 and VVS2) indicating that the SSRs were highly informative. Cluster analysis using unweighted pair group method with arithmetic averaging (UPGMA) suggested 14 groups among studied cultivars and 53 grapevine denominations out of 61 were unequivocally distinguished, with all accessions showing at least one-specific combination of alleles. On the other hand, in order to overcome the existing confusion in Tunisian grapevine nomenclature, of the analyzed homonymous pairs of cultivars, only ‘Balta 2’ and ‘Balta 3’ have shown identical allelic profiles, consistent with their being the same genotype. Hence, nomenclature distinction is meaningless and only one denomination should be retained. Due to the high overall power of exclusion (Q) (greater than 99.99%) and to the absence of null alleles, the set of microsatellite loci used is appropriate to determine parentage in Tunisian grapevines beyond any reasonable doubt. The analysis of fingerprints indicated that the Tunisian grape vines have evolved through out crossing between five possible parents: Balta 1, Beldi Baddar, Beldi Rafraf, Beldi Local Rafraf and Khedhiri 3. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Opuntia ficus-indica is a long-domesticated cactus crop that is important in agricultural economies throughout arid and semiarid parts of the world. The biogeographic and evolutionary origins of this species have been obscured through ancient and widespread cultivation and naturalization. The origin of O. ficus-indica is investigated through the use of Bayesian phylogenetic analyses of nrITS DNA sequences. These analyses support the following hypotheses: that O. ficus-indica is a close relative of a group of arborescent, fleshy-fruited prickly pears from central and southern Mexico; that the center of domestication for this species is in central Mexico; and that the taxonomic concept of O. ficus-indica may include clones derived from multiple lineages and therefore be polyphyletic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To study the origins of South American maize, without the complicating factors introduced by the extensive movement of genotypes during the post-Columbian period, we made a genetic analysis of primitive landraces and preserved maize remains. Fifteen alcohol dehydrogenase 2 (Adh2) allele sequences were obtained from the landraces and 11 from the archaeological specimens. When these and six previously published Adh2 sequences were aligned, three allele groups were seen, distinguished by the structure of a dinucleotide repeat sequence. The three allele groups had distinct distributions within South America, the distributions supporting a model in which the two Central American agricultural systems—highland and lowland—generated separate expansions of maize cultivation into South America. One expansion centred on a highland culture that spread from Central America through the Panama highlands into the Andean regions on the western side of South America, and the second expansion centred on a lowland culture which spread along the lowlands of the northeast coast of South America, entering the continent through the river systems. The Adh2 biogeography was consistent with limited cultural contact across the Andes between northern Chile and Paraguay. From the diversity of the Adh2 allele sequences, we deduced that maize has undergone a rapid rate of evolution since domestication. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Investigates the diversity and origin of Andean landraces of common bean. Genetic base of Andean landraces of common bean; Introgression from Middle American beans; Derivation of Andean landraces from wild populations; Introduction of the morphological variability among landraces; Domestication of the Andean common bean.

Several studies recently published in Ethnobiology Letters treat respectively the paleobiolinguistics of chili pepper, manioc, maize, and the common bean in New World language families. This includes the Otomanguean family of Mexico, one of the oldest language groups of the hemisphere, whose parent language may have been spoken at the latest around 6500 years ago. This communication addresses the possibility that Otomanguean paleobiolinguistics should be considered tentative since languages of the grouping are not yet conclusively demonstrated to be descended from a common ancestor. This challenges the proposal that words for chili pepper, manioc, and maize were in vocabularies of languages spoken two thousand or more years before development of a village-farming way of life in the New World. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Explains the genetic origins of the hexaploid oat crops, Avena sativa and Avena byzantina. Use of the random amplified polymorphic DNA marker variation and the distribution of the 7C-17 intergenomic chromosomal translocation in cultivated and progenitor accessions; Southwest Asia as the suggested origin of the plant.

The article focuses on a study that demonstrated a single origin in southern Peru for the cultivated potato. DNA markers in 261 wild and 98 cultivated potato varieties were analyzed by scientists to assess whether the domestic potato came from a single progenitor. Potatoes were domesticated from wild relatives, according to the earliest archaeological evidence. The study results can be used to guide farmers and scientists on the selection and use of potato species and in investigating the origins of other crops.

The article presents findings of a study on the origin of the coconut tree, conducted by researchers led by Alan W. Meerow, geneticist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service Subtropical Horticulture Research Station in Miami, Florida. The researchers used genetic markers found in coconuts and other palm trees from across the world for this study. Findings revealed that the ancestors of the coconut tree originated in South America, with its closest living relatives being a modern genus of American palms.

The article presents a documented farm transition of several crops made by the researchers 10,000 years before 2007 in the U.S. It states that the development of agriculture in the New World has been assumed to involve early farming in settlements in the Andes. To give a clearer view of this development, a documented information on agriculture was made by the authors by basing the large number of agricultural sites in central Peru. It shows that the cultivation of squash started around 10,000 years before 2007, followed by peanuts about 8,500 years before 2007, and cotton by 6,000 years before 2007.