Bioactive compounds as biomarkers for authenticating coffees with protected designation of origin from southeastern...

The designation of origin for coffee establishes a connection between a product's unique origin and quality. In this context, this study investigated 25 bioactive compounds, including polyphenols and organic acids, as potential markers for authenticating coffee origin. Brazilian coffees from four regions with protected designation of origin status were evaluated. The compounds were quantified using High Performance Liquid Chromatography with Diode Array Detection (HPLC-DAD), and classification performance was assessed using Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA), Soft Independent Modeling by Class Analogy (SIMCA), and Least-Squares Support Vector Machine (LS-SVM). LS-SVM produced the best results, with 100 % sensitivity, 83-100 % selectivity, and 97-100 % accuracy when classifying the origins. The bioactive compounds that most influenced class discrimination were p-coumaric, malonic, rosmarinic, and formic acids. Overall, these findings suggest that bioactive compounds can serve as biomarkers for authenticating coffees with different designations of origin, thereby helping to prevent fraud and ensure product traceability.