Ricerc@Sapienza

The aim of the present study is to authenticate Grappa spirits and to develop a non-destructive methodology which would allow detecting possible adulteration (by less valuable spirits) on this product. Grappa is an Italian alcoholic drink obtained by distillation of grape marks which has recently received the Geographical Indication (GI) label.

The early non-destructive detection of chilling injury (CI) in aubergine fruit was investigated using spectroscopy. CI is a physiological disorder that occurs when the fruit is subjected to temperatures lower than 12 °C. Reference measurements of CI were acquired by visual appearance analysis, measuring electrolyte leakage (EL), mass loss and firmness evaluations which demonstrated that even before three days of storage at 2 °C, the CI process was initiated.

Walnuts have been widely investigated because of their chemical composition, which is particularly rich in unsaturated fatty acids, responsible for different benefits in the human body. Some of these fruits, depending on the harvesting area, are considered a high value-added food, thus resulting in a higher selling price. In Italy, walnuts are harvested throughout the national territory, but the fruits produced in the Sorrento area (South Italy) are commercially valuable for their peculiar organoleptic characteristics.

Promoting and protecting the market of typical national territory’s products are fundamental from a commodity point of view. Often, high-added value foods are subjected to fraud. Chestnuts have extraordinary nutritional and organoleptic qualities and Italy is one of the biggest producers of this product. The purpose of the present study is to develop an analytical method suitable to authenticate the chestnut of Vallerano a PDO agro-food produced in Central-Italy.

Rice is a staple food in Vietnam, and the concern about rice is much greater than that for other foods. Preventing fraud against this product has become increasingly important in order to protect producers and consumers from possible economic losses. The possible adulteration of this product is done by mixing, or even replacing, high-quality rice with cheaper rice. This highlights the need for analytical methodologies suitable for its authentication. Given this scenario, the present work aims at testing a rapid and non-destructive approach to detect adulterated rice samples.

Milk is a complex emulsion of fat and water with proteins (such as caseins and whey), vitamins, minerals and lactose dissolved within. The purpose of this study is to automatically distinguish different dairy residues on substrates commonly used in the food industry using hyperspectral imaging. Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) and Raman hyperspectral imaging were compared as candidate techniques to achieve this goal. Aluminium and stainless-steel, types 304-2B and 316-2B, were chosen as surfaces due to their widespread use in food production.

Darjeeling black tea is a worldwide known tea variety which is currently part of the register of protected designations of origin (PDO) and protected geographical indications (PGI) as established by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1050/2011 of 20 October 2011. Therefore, preventing frauds against this product became increasingly important in order to protect producers and consumers from possible economic losses.

"Egg pasta" is a kind of pasta prepared by adding eggs in the dough; the color of this product is often associated to its quality, as it is proportional to the quantity of egg present in the dough. A possible adulteration on this product is represented by the addition of turmeric (not reported in the label) in the dough. The inclusion of this ingredient (which is minimal, given the strong coloring power of this spice) fraudulently accentuates the yellow color of the product, making it more attractive to the consumer.

Four varieties of red garlic (Allium sativum L.) cultivated in different Italian territories, Sulmona (Abruzzo), Proceno and Castelliri (Lazio), and Nubia (Sicily), were analysed by Attenuated Total Reflectance-Fourier Transformed Infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy. ATR-FTIR spectra of bulbils and bulbil tunics were separately acquired and processed by Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA) with the aim of classifying the garlic samples on the basis of their geographical origin.

DNA typing and genetic profile data interpretation are among the most relevant topics in forensic science; among other applications, genetic profile’s capability to distinguish biogeographic information about population groups, subgroups and affiliations have been largely explored in the last decade. In fact, for investigative and intelligence purposes, it is extremely useful to identify subjects and estimate their biogeographic origins by examining the recovered DNA profiles from evidence on a crime scene.