Trace element fingerprinting of cockle (Cerastoderma edule) shells can reveal harvesting location in adjacent areas

Abstract

Determining seafood geographic origin is critical for controlling its quality and safeguarding the interest of consumers. Here, we use trace element fingerprinting (TEF) of bivalve shells to discriminate the geographic origin of specimens. Barium (Ba), manganese (Mn), magnesium (Mg), strontium (Sr) and lead (Pb) were quantified in cockle shells (Cerastoderma edule) captured with two fishing methods (by hand and by hand-raking) and from five adjacent fishing locations within an estuarine system (Ria de Aveiro, Portugal). Results suggest no differences in TEF of cockle shells captured by hand or by hand-raking, thus confirming that metal rakes do not act as a potential source of metal contamination that could somehow bias TEF results. In contrast, significant differences were recorded among locations for all trace elements analysed. A Canonical Analysis of Principal Coordinates (CAP) revealed that 92% of the samples could be successfully classified according to their fishing location using TEF. We show that TEF can be an accurate, fast and reliable method to determine the geographic origin of bivalves, even among locations separated less than 1 km apart within the same estuarine system. Nonetheless, follow up studies are needed to determine if TEF can reliably discriminate between bivalves originating from different ecosystems.

Determining the geographical origin of common buckwheat from China by multivariate analysis based on mineral elements, amino acids and vitamins

“…The element analysis is usually considered to be an effective tool, because plants can absorb the mineral elements from the soil and thus there is an association to some extent between the contents of mineral elements in environment and their accumulation degree in crops 17 , 18 . The method of element analysis has been applied for geographical origin assignment of some farm products such as wine 19 , honey 20 , mutton 21 , sheep milk 22 , 23 , Chinese cabbage 24 , 25 , tea 6 , coffee 4 , wheat 26 , 27 , and other crops 28 as well as some aquatic products 29 , 30 with different degrees of success. Besides, some organic compounds or physicochemical parameters (color, diastase activity, electrical conductivity, total antioxidant activity, etc.)…”

Spatio-temporal variability of trace elements fingerprints in cockle (Cerastoderma edule) shells and its relevance for tracing geographic origin

“…20 . The valves were separated and the organic tissues were removed using ceramic coated blades and tweezers.…”

Local-scale variation in trace elemental fingerprints of the estuarine bivalve Austrovenus stutchburyi within and between estuaries

“…Dunphy et al 2011, López-Duarte et al 2012, Cathey et al 2014, Davoren et al 2015, DiFranco et al 2015. Only Ricardo et al (2015) previously examined how trace Table 5. Results of Tukey's HSD post hoc tests examining pairwise differences in elemental concentrations between sites.…”

“…Sites for which pairwise differences existed are shown in bold elemental fingerprints vary between sites located close to each other in a single estuary and were able to distinguish between sites located less than 1 km apart with over 80% accuracy. The advantage of the current study over Ricardo et al (2015) is that both a higher number of sites were sampled and more individuals from each site were analysed.…”