Discrimination between Wild and Farmed Sea Bass by Using New Spectrometry and Spectroscopy Methods

Abstract

European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax L.) is one of the most economically important fish species in the Mediterranean Sea area. Despite strict requirements regarding indications of production method (wild/farmed), incorrect labelling of sea bass is a practice still frequently detected. The aim of this study was to evaluate the capabilities of two techniques, Near-InfraRed (NIR) spectroscopy and mass spectrometry, to discriminate sea bass according to the production method. Two categories were discriminated based on the docosahexaenoic and arachidonic fatty acid ratio by using a Direct Sample Analysis (DSA) system integrated with a time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometer. The cut-off value of 3.42, of fatty acid ratio, was able to discriminate between the two types of fish with sensitivity and specificity of 100%. It was possible to classify fish production by using multivariate analysis with portable NIR. The results achieved by the developed validation models suggest that this approach is able to distinguish the two product categories with high sensitivity (100%) and specificity (90%). The results obtained from this study highlight the potential application of two easy, fast, and accurate screening methods to detect fraud in commercial sea bass production.

Multi-Omics Approaches for Freshness Estimation and Detection of Illicit Conservation Treatments in Sea Bass (Dicentrarchus Labrax): Data Fusion Applications

“…All the cited methods are known to be time-consuming and destructive, often not suitable in the context of field analysis. Therefore, non-destructive, cheap, and rapid techniques, such as near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy, have also been recently applied [3][4][5][6][7]. However, the use of omics techniques is certainly useful for deeper characterization of fish freshness since it is characterized by complex processes that can be influenced by several endogenous (e.g., spoilage) and exogenous (e.g., undeclared freezing/thawing treatment, adulteration with illicit additives, etc.…”

“…Consequently, while some interesting applications of both omics and spectroscopy have been reported to differentiate the most common frozen/thawed fish frauds [8][9][10][11], novel methods to unveil other illicit field practices based on the misuse of additives that are known to prevent and/or delay fish spoilage are still limited [4] and therefore needed.…”

“…However, considering known variability in feed intake, diet composition, and other seasonal and geographical variances in sea bass farming [4,47,48], the specificity of perturbations induced by Cafodos on recorded fatty acid profiles will need to be checked on supplementary fish specimens.…”

Portable NIR spectroscopy: the route to green analytical chemistry

“…( Risoluti et al, 2015 ; Pennisi et al, 2021 ; Cavallini et al, 2022 ). Handheld NIR spectroscopy was proposed as discrimination tool between wild and farmed sea bass by ( Esposito et al, 2022 ). Yakes et al (2021) reported the analysis of two fish species and compared the performance of handheld NIR devices.…”

Current State-of-the-Art Spectroscopic and Chromatographic Techniques Utilized in Food Authenticity and Food Traceability

“…Chromatographic techniques combined with different mass spectrometry (MS) technologies [ 9 ], including time of flight spectrometry (TOF), high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) and isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) [ 10 ], have been used extensively for food traceability and authentication, particularly for honey, wine, fish, coffee and rice [ 11 , 12 , 13 ].…”