Discrimination of producing area of Chinese Tongshan kaoliang spirit using electronic nose sensing characteristics combined with the chemometrics methods.

In the ancient history of the Yue Nation, the Chinese Tongshan kaoliang spirit (CTKS) has been one of the most popular liquor in the last 2,500 years. The most common fraudulent practice for the commercialization of CTKS is to produce and sell adulterated spirit from different geographical origins. In this study, the use of GC-flash electronic nose (EN) technique combined with chemometrics analysis has proven to provide a rapid tool for the discrimination of CTKS from different geographical origins. The discriminant models were developed by using principal component analysis (PCA), and discriminant factor analysis (DFA). In addition, the volatile organic matters of CTKS were also investigated to find out the difference between samples from varied origins and adulterated liquor. The results demonstrated that the EN technique combined with chemometrics methods could be used to fingerprinting techniques to protect the fame of the prestigious CTKS and to enable its authentication.

Rapid method for quantification of seven synthetic pigments in colored Chinese steamed buns using UFLC-MS/MS without SPE.

Synthetic pigments are still used instead of natural pigments in many foods and their residues in food could be an important risk to human health. A simple and rapid analytical method combining the low-cost extraction protocol with ultra-fast liquid chromatography-tandem quadrupole mass spectrometry (UFLC-MS/MS) was developed for the simultaneous determination of seven synthetic pigments used in colored Chinese steamed buns. For the first time, ethanol/ammonia solution/water (7:2:1, v/v/v) was used as extraction solution for the synthetic pigments in colored Chinese steamed buns. The results showed that the property of the extraction solution used in this method was more effective than critic acid solution, which is used in the polyamide adsorption method. The limits of quantification for the seven synthetic pigments ranged from 0.15 to 0.50 µg/kg. The present method was successfully applied to samples of colored Chinese steamed buns for food-safety risk monitoring in Zhejiang Province, China. The results found sunset yellow pigment in six out of 300 colored Chinese steamed buns (from 0.50 to 32.6 µg/kg).