A non-destructive sampling method for food authentication using gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry or ion mobility spectrometry

Abstract

The study of volatile compounds obtained by gas chromatography (GC) coupled to mass spectrometry (MS) or ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) may be very useful to protect food quality, especially when using a non-destructive sampling method. In this work, the authentication of the highly appreciated dry-cured Iberian ham by those techniques was studied and compared. The results obtained show the suitability of a non-destructive sampling method coupled to headspace sampling (HS)-GC-IMS or HS-GC–MS to determine volatile markers in the feeding Iberian pig regime. Although both methods were suitable to differentiate the ham categories, HS-GC-IMS was more sensitive detecting a higher number of compounds than HS-GC–MS, which provided accurate qualitative results. The results of principal component analysis showed that ethanol, 2-propanol and 3-methylbutanol, identified by HS-GC-IMS, and 3-methylbutanal and heptane, identified by HS-GC–MS, could be considered potential markers to identify ham from different feeding regimes.