Research topics in the area of Integrity and authenticity of foods
Integrity and authenticity of foods
Assessment of the chemical traceability of foods by fingerprinting techniques
The authenticity and origin of a product are key topics in the food industry. The lack of penalties, and the low probability of discovering the different types of adulteration, has made food fraud a growing problem in recent decades. While there has been an improvement in analytical methods to determine the authenticity of foods, most research has focused on simple foods. Complex or processed foods, which are more likely to be adulterated due to their complexity, have been largely left aside, making fraud detection more difficult.
The main objective of this research project is to apply metabolomic techniques to raw materials of vegetable origin and to foods made from them to find stable markers of authenticity throughout the production chain, including commercial samples, in order to avoid consumers’ misinformation and, at the same time, highlight the positive characteristics of our foods to improve their positioning and value in the national and international market. The analytical tools that we use to construct the chemical substance include the analysis of multielements (generally by ICP-MS), analysis of stable isotopes (generally by mass espectrometry of stable isotopes – IRMS), analysis of secondary organic metabolites ( polyphenols, volatile compounds-VOCs, tocopheroles, protein markers, etc.) (associated techniques: HPLC or GC coupled to low or high resolution MS, off-line (SPE) and on-line extraction techniques (SPME from solutions or head-space).
Lead researcher: Dra Veronica Baroni
Team researchers: Dr Daniel Wunderlin, Dr Federico Brigante
Student: Franco Yanicari
Phytoremediation of emerging contaminants and metals in aquatic systems
Lead researchers: Dr. Daniel Wunderlin; Dra. Ma. Eugenia Valdés
We study the capacity of native and adapted macrophyte plants from the province of Córdoba in the removal of contaminants (pharmaceutical drugs) and metals from water bodies. The objective of this project is to contribute relevant information for the development of aquatic remediation systems.