Detection of Adulterated Maple Products by Stable Carbon Isotope Ratio

Abstract

The relatively low 13C content in sugar from maple (Acer saccharum Marsh) indicates a C3 photosynthetic cycle. Cane and corn sugars are characterized by a C4 photosynthetic cycle having a higher content of 13C. Thus, it is possible to detect the addition of cane or corn sugar to maple products. Analyses carried out on hundreds of sap, syrup, and sugar samples from many locations established a calibration curve for mixtures of cane or corn sugar with maple sugars or syrups. Because of the natural range of maple sugar 13C content, an optimum detection level of 3% adulteration is possible on a maple sugar sample of unknown origin. Thus, the isotopic composition 13C/12C is proposed as a method of determining authenticity and detecting adulteration of maple products.

Discrimination and classification of adulterants in maple syrup with the use of infrared spectroscopic techniques

“…Carro et al 12 used stable carbon isotope ratios to detect adulteration in maple syrup. Morselli and Baggett13 and Whalen14 developed an approved procedure for the detection of adulteration of maple syrup with 20% or more corn or cane sugars/syrups using carbon isotope analysis.…”

SAMPLING TECHNIQUE FOR COLLECTION OF EXPIRED CO2 IN STUDIES USING NATURALLY LABELLED 13C IN CALVES

“…des avantages importants par rapport au tragage avec des produits enrichis artifi- Natural '3C labelling of metabolic processes may be effected with minor changes in the diet of humans without using any artificially enriched substances (Mosora et al 1976). Thus, organic substances synthetized through Calvin (Cr) and Hatch-Slack (Co) photosynthetic cycles are chemically identical but differ by l2-14%a in terms of their carbon isotopic composition (E"o"'rC) (Bender 1971;Carro et al 1980;Craig 1954). The analytical precision of the mass spectrometer is 100 times that of the difference in r3C/t2C ratio to be measured.…”

“…2. (Carro et al 1980). The isotopic composition of a sample, 6"our3C, is the difference per thousand between the sample t3clt2c ratio and that of the international standard Pee Dee Belemnite (PDB).…”

Stable carbon isotope ratios in orange juice

“…Problems in agriculture and commerce which have been solved include the fraudulent addition of inexpensive C4-derived materials to C3-derived materials and subsequent mislabeling. Examples are the additions of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) to honey (White and Doner, 1978a), cane syrup to maple syrup (Carro et al, 1980), and HFCS to apple juice (Doner and Phillips, 1981). These adulterations had been widespread, impacting producers, processors, and consumers of these products.…”