black pepper adulteration (4)

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The olive oil and table olive industry generate large volumes of olive waste, and the adulteration of olive stone and olive pomace in ground black pepper was first identified at the end of the 19th century. Although screening methods have been developed to detect adulteration of black pepper, there is a need for a robust confirmatory test of the adulteration by olive by-products. Oleoropein, a phenolic compound responsible for the bitter taste in olives, is found in all constituent parts of the olive tree and fruit. Scientists at the McCormick & Co laboratories in France, UK and Italy have developed a method using Accelerated Solvent Extraction (ASE®) and LC-MS/MS to detect and identify oleuropein in olive by-products. The qualitative method was validated with prepared  mixtures of black pepper and different olive by-products, and the limit of detection was well below the 1.5% extraneous matter permitted in the ISO standard for black pepper.

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Vanilla is a high value flavouring used in ice cream, desserts and confectionery, and mainly grown in Madagascar. Synthetic vanillin and biovanillin (produced by fermentation) are cheaper. By using SIRA (stable isotope ratio analysis) to look at the δ13C, it is possible to distinguish between the three types of vanilla flavouring. The method was tested on market samples of yoghurt and ic cream. Also FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared) spectoscopy with chemometric analysis was calibrated with authentic samples of black pepper so that it was possible to detect the adulteration of ground black pepper with black pepper husk and defatted spent material. The research was undertaken as a Ph.D registered at the Technical University of Denmark, but carried out at the Danish National Food Institute and IGFS - Queens University Belfast.  

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3817388095?profile=RESIZE_710xAlthough infrared (IR) spectroscopy is often used as a simple and rapid method to screen for economically motivated adulteration in spices, conventional microscopy remains the reference method. In this research, micro-FTIR imaging, along with PCA (Principle Component Analysis) were used in combination with microscopy to develop a non-targeted method for detecting a broad range of organic and mineral bulking agents that could potentially be used to adulterate black pepper. The method has been validated, and the results are classed as typical or atypical, where the latter indicates a high probablity of adulteration, and is followed up with a multitool investigational approach for the detection and identification of the potential adulterant.

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Black pepper is one of the most valued spices in the world, and hence is susceptible to adulteration. A common adulterant is black papaya seeds. Researchers in Peru and Brazil have investigated the potential of near infrared hyperspectral imaging (NIR-HSI) combined with multivariate analysis to identify black pepper adulterated with papaya seeds. SIMCA (soft independent modelling of class analogy) allowed classification with 100% sensitivity between berry black pepper and berry papaya seeds. A PLS (partial least squares) reduced model based on 7 wavelengths presented higher predictive capability, and the maps from this model successfully showed the distribution of ground papaya seeds in ground black pepper.

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