Abstract
The sale of frozen–thawed fish and fish products, labeled as fresh, is currently one of the most common and insidious commercial food frauds. For this reason, the demand of reliable tools to identify the storage conditions is increasing. The present study was performed on two species, commonly sold in large-scale distribution: Cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) and musky octopus (Eledone spp.). Fifty fresh cephalopod specimens were analyzed at refrigeration temperature (2 ± 2 °C), then frozen at −20 °C for 10 days and finally thawed and analyzed again. The performance of three near-infrared (NIR) instruments in identifying storage conditions were compared: The benchtop NIR Multi Purpose Analyzer (MPA) by Bruker, the portable MicroNIR by VIAVI and the handheld NIR SCiO by Consumer Physics. All collected spectra were processed and analyzed with chemometric methods. The SCiO data were also analyzed using the analytical tools available in the online application provided by the manufacturer to evaluate its performance. NIR spectroscopy, coupled with chemometrics, allowed discriminating between fresh and thawed samples with high accuracy: Cuttlefish between 82.3–94.1%, musky octopus between 91.2–97.1%, global model between 86.8–95.6%. Results show how food frauds could be detected directly in the marketplace, through small, ultra-fast and simplified handheld devices, whereas official control laboratories could use benchtop analytical instruments, coupled with chemometric approaches, to develop accurate and validated methods, suitable for regulatory purposes.
Highlights
International food trade and the complexity of supply chains make nowadays the fight against food fraud a multifaceted and current challenge
The musky octopus principal component analysis (PCA) results depict a clearer picture of the differences between fresh and thawed samples (Figure 1d–f), and this was confirmed by the PLS-DA modeling results, as reported in the lower section of (Table 2)
The purpose of the study was to investigate the accuracy of the three tools, and the additional goal was to set up a reliable model to be used in quality and official controls; at the same time, the results obtained with a ready-to-use device helped in verifying if this technique could be disseminated among final consumers, to prevent commercial frauds
Summary
International food trade and the complexity of supply chains make nowadays the fight against food fraud a multifaceted and current challenge. The term “food fraud” refers to all those actions aimed at the production and/or distribution of food in violation of current legislation, intended to deceive the consumers, obtain illicit profits, and infringe the agri-food chain legislation. Fish products are among the most common defrauded food commodities [1], since they can be counterfeited and mislabeled [2,3,4,5]. Selling frozen-thawed fish products labeled as fresh infringes the regulatory actions in Europe (European Parliament Legislative Resolution No 1169/2011 [6]) focused on providing the final consumer with information about the defrosted status of products by clear labeling. It has been proven that multiple freezing–thawing cycles impair the wholesomeness of food by promoting the proliferation of bacteria, molds, and other microorganisms, especially in fish, significantly compromising the healthiness and safety related to its consumption [7,8]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
