Authenticity assessment of cultivated berries via phenolic profiles of seeds

Considering the health-benefits of berry fruits consumption and increased market demands for food authenticity as one of the most important quality assurances, phenolic profiling by high-performance thin layer chroma-tography and ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography hyphenated with mass spectrometry was combined with multivariate analysis for phytochemical characterization and intercultivar discrimination of cultivated berry seeds. The phenolic profiles of 45 berry seeds from nine genuine Serbian cultivated fruit species (straw-berry, raspberry, blackberry, black currant, blueberry, gooseberry, cape gooseberry, chokeberry, and goji berry) revealed a good differentiation according to botanical origin. In order to determine biomarkers responsible for the classification, a total of 103 phenolic compounds were identified, including 53 phenolic acids and their derivatives, 26 flavonoids and 24 glycosides. Biomarkers derived from the phenolic profile of berry seeds proved to be a powerful tool in the authentication of botanical origin, and may be useful in detection of frauds in berry-based seed-containing product.

Automated summary

This research characterized and differentiated the phytochemical features of cultivated berry seeds using phenolic profiling and identified biomarkers for authentication of botanical origin. A total of 103 phenolic compounds were identified, proving the efficacy of phenolic profiles as a powerful tool in distinguishing different plant origins of berry seeds.