Authentication of berries and berry‐based food products

Abstract

Berries represent one of the most important and high-valued group of modernday health-beneficial "superfoods" whose dietary consumption has been recognized to be beneficial for human health for a long time. In addition to being delicious, berries are rich in nutrients, vitamins, and several bioactive compounds, including carotenoids, flavonoids, phenolic acids, and hydrolysable tannins. However, due to their high value, berries and berry-based products are often subject to fraudulent adulteration, commonly for economical gain, but also unintentionally due to misidentification of species. Deliberate adulteration often comprises the substitution of high-value berries with lower value counterparts and mislabeling of product contents. As adulteration is deceptive toward customers and presents a risk for public health, food authentication through different methods is applied as a countermeasure. Although many authentication methods have been developed in terms of fast, sensitive, reliable, and low-cost analysis and have been applied in the authentication of a myriad of food products and species, their application on berries and berry-based products is still limited. The present review provides an overview of the development and appli-

Chloroplast genome assemblies and comparative analyses of major Vaccinium berry crops

“…The six Vaccinium cpDNA assemblies were screened for the presence of simple sequence repeats (SSRs), identifying between 77 (lowbush) and 109 (rabbiteye) SSRs (Table S5, Table S6). Mononucleotide repeats were most frequent repeat type found (27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37)(38)(39)(40)(41), followed by tetra-(18-28) and dinucleotide repeats . Trinucleotide repeats were found in lesser numbers (6-8) and pentanucleotide repeats were identified only in bilberry ( 4) and cranberry (6).…”

“…By generating additional chloroplast genome sequences for Vaccinium species, we aim to provide valuable resources to assist future taxonomic and domestication studies, the development of simple molecular markers for the authentication of berry-based products [29], and a framework for chloroplast biotechnology [30, 31]. Therefore, in this study, we report the assembly of five Vaccinium chloroplast sequences representing the following berry types: northern highbush blueberry – NHB ( V. corymbosum ), southern highbush blueberry – SHB ( V. corymbosum hybrids), rabbiteye blueberry ( V. virgatum ), lowbush blueberry ( V. angustifolium ), and bilberry ( V. myrtillus ).…”

Health Benefits and Applications of Goji Berries in Functional Food Products Development: A Review

“…In addition to dietary fibers, vitamins, and minerals, berries contain phytochemicals, such as phenolic compounds and carotenoids, which exert antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and many other health-promoting effects [ 3 ]. Berries are consumed fresh, frozen, or dried and used as ingredients in different food products and dietary supplements [ 4 ]. As a marketing strategy to promote their extraordinary health benefits, berries are widely advertised as superfruits [ 5 ] and functional foods [ 6 ].…”

Fractionated extraction of polyphenols from mate tea leaves using a combination of hydrophobic/ hydrophilic NADES

“…Superfoods have gained substantial reputation due to their vast benefits, and consequently, their consumption has become popular in a healthy lifestyle. The valuable properties of these type of functional foods are related with their bioactive ingredients, which can be reflected in the wealth of phenolics, protecting the human body from damage rising from oxidative stress, improving the quality and nutritional value of food ( Ferlemi and Lamari, 2016 ; Gullón et al, 2016 ; Salo et al, 2021 ; van den Driessche et al, 2018 ). Mate tea leaves ( Ilex paraguariensis St.…”