Ecofriendly shiitake authentication using bulk and amino acid-specific stable isotope models

Area of Science:

• Food Science
• Analytical Chemistry
• Agricultural Science

Background:

• Accurate authentication of ecofriendly shiitake (organic, pesticide-free) is crucial for food safety and national agro-food certification reliability.
• Current authentication methods face challenges in reliably distinguishing ecofriendly from conventional shiitake.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the feasibility of bulk and compound-specific isotope analyses for discriminating ecofriendly shiitake from conventional ones.
• To compare the classification accuracy of bulk versus compound-specific isotope models.

Main Methods:

• Utilized bulk and compound-specific isotope analyses to examine shiitake mushroom samples.
• Applied a compound-specific isotope model focusing on amino acids.
• Determined classification accuracy for different isotope models and identified discrimination scores.

Main Results:

• The compound-specific isotope model achieved 100% classification accuracy, significantly outperforming the bulk isotope model (74.5%).
• Specific cutting scores differentiated organic from pesticide-free shiitake (-4.42) and organic from conventional shiitake (4.87).
• Isotope fractionation trends showed minimal influence from shiitake type or amino acid synthetic pathways.

Conclusions:

• Compound-specific isotope analysis of amino acids is a highly effective tool for authenticating ecofriendly shiitake.
• This method can complement existing techniques like bulk stable isotope analysis and pesticide residue testing.
• The findings enhance the reliability of agro-food certification systems for high-quality shiitake products.