Authenticity in bakery products: Detection of pistachio fraud using NGS metabarcoding

Ensuring the authenticity of food ingredients is a key aspect of food safety and quality control. High-quality raw materials are often replaced by cheaper ones and not declared. In fine bakery products such as baklava, pistachios are illegally replaced by cheaper nuts. In this study we introduce a N...

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Main Authors: Sina Rammouz, Anne Reichstein, Jochen Riehle, Ansgar Ferner, Markus Fischer, Christian Schäfers
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-06-01
Series:Food Chemistry: Molecular Sciences
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666566225000218
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author Sina Rammouz
Anne Reichstein
Jochen Riehle
Ansgar Ferner
Markus Fischer
Christian Schäfers
author_facet Sina Rammouz
Anne Reichstein
Jochen Riehle
Ansgar Ferner
Markus Fischer
Christian Schäfers
author_sort Sina Rammouz
collection DOAJ
description Ensuring the authenticity of food ingredients is a key aspect of food safety and quality control. High-quality raw materials are often replaced by cheaper ones and not declared. In fine bakery products such as baklava, pistachios are illegally replaced by cheaper nuts. In this study we introduce a Next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based DNA metabarcoding approach as a sensitive, reliable, and semi-quantitative method that enables a successfully detection of such adulterations, even in complex and highly processed food matrices. NGS offers increased depth, efficiency and further applications compared to conventional Sanger sequencing. In the present study, the mini-rbcL region of the chloroplast genome was used and sequencing was performed on an Illumina MiSeq® instrument. The method enabled the identification of six common pistachio adulterants, including nuts, seeds, and legumes. By preparing analytical control samples, matrix effects could be observed and included in the semi-quantitative analysis. We successfully applied the method and demonstrated the high potential of NGS technologies for routine food authentication, offering a cost- and time-efficient solution for high-throughput sample analysis.
format Article
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institution Kabale University
issn 2666-5662
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publishDate 2025-06-01
publisher Elsevier
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series Food Chemistry: Molecular Sciences
spelling doaj-art-39fbd37d9ac64eb5ad2ff629dae1db7c2025-08-20T03:45:28ZengElsevierFood Chemistry: Molecular Sciences2666-56622025-06-011010026010.1016/j.fochms.2025.100260Authenticity in bakery products: Detection of pistachio fraud using NGS metabarcodingSina Rammouz0Anne Reichstein1Jochen Riehle2Ansgar Ferner3Markus Fischer4Christian Schäfers5Institut für Hygiene und Umwelt, Marckmannstraße 129 b, 20539 Hamburg, Germany; Hamburg School of Food Science – Institut für Lebensmittelchemie, Grindelallee 117, 20146 Hamburg, GermanyInstitut für Hygiene und Umwelt, Marckmannstraße 129 b, 20539 Hamburg, GermanyInstitut für Hygiene und Umwelt, Marckmannstraße 129 b, 20539 Hamburg, GermanyInstitut für Hygiene und Umwelt, Marckmannstraße 129 b, 20539 Hamburg, GermanyHamburg School of Food Science – Institut für Lebensmittelchemie, Grindelallee 117, 20146 Hamburg, GermanyInstitut für Hygiene und Umwelt, Marckmannstraße 129 b, 20539 Hamburg, Germany; Corresponding author.Ensuring the authenticity of food ingredients is a key aspect of food safety and quality control. High-quality raw materials are often replaced by cheaper ones and not declared. In fine bakery products such as baklava, pistachios are illegally replaced by cheaper nuts. In this study we introduce a Next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based DNA metabarcoding approach as a sensitive, reliable, and semi-quantitative method that enables a successfully detection of such adulterations, even in complex and highly processed food matrices. NGS offers increased depth, efficiency and further applications compared to conventional Sanger sequencing. In the present study, the mini-rbcL region of the chloroplast genome was used and sequencing was performed on an Illumina MiSeq® instrument. The method enabled the identification of six common pistachio adulterants, including nuts, seeds, and legumes. By preparing analytical control samples, matrix effects could be observed and included in the semi-quantitative analysis. We successfully applied the method and demonstrated the high potential of NGS technologies for routine food authentication, offering a cost- and time-efficient solution for high-throughput sample analysis.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666566225000218Food authenticationNut adulterationDNA barcodingAmplicon sequencingmini-rbcL region
spellingShingle Sina Rammouz
Anne Reichstein
Jochen Riehle
Ansgar Ferner
Markus Fischer
Christian Schäfers
Authenticity in bakery products: Detection of pistachio fraud using NGS metabarcoding
Food Chemistry: Molecular Sciences
Food authentication
Nut adulteration
DNA barcoding
Amplicon sequencing
mini-rbcL region
title Authenticity in bakery products: Detection of pistachio fraud using NGS metabarcoding
title_full Authenticity in bakery products: Detection of pistachio fraud using NGS metabarcoding
title_fullStr Authenticity in bakery products: Detection of pistachio fraud using NGS metabarcoding
title_full_unstemmed Authenticity in bakery products: Detection of pistachio fraud using NGS metabarcoding
title_short Authenticity in bakery products: Detection of pistachio fraud using NGS metabarcoding
title_sort authenticity in bakery products detection of pistachio fraud using ngs metabarcoding
topic Food authentication
Nut adulteration
DNA barcoding
Amplicon sequencing
mini-rbcL region
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666566225000218
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AT ansgarferner authenticityinbakeryproductsdetectionofpistachiofraudusingngsmetabarcoding
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