Discrimination of two Huangkou ginger GI products origin by volatile and nonvolatile metabolomics

Ginger is a high-value crop with growing global demand. However, the uniform morphology of its rhizomes makes it susceptible to adulteration, which in turn complicates the protection of its geographical indications. To establish a reliable traceability method, the volatile and non-volatile metabolomes of two Huangkou ginger GI products from Qianwei county in Sichuan Province and Luoping county in Yunnan Province were simultaneously analyzed using HS-SPME-GC-QTOF/MS and UPLC-QTOF/MS. Through multivariate screening and database identification (KEGG, MetaCyc, HMDB), 44 non-volatile and 21 volatile endogenous markers (VIP > 1, p < 0.05) distinguished the two sources with excellent classification performance under an OPLS-DA model (Q² > 0.9). Environmentally sensitive plant-specific metabolites, such as γ-tocotrienol, along with lactones B and rose oxide isomers, drove the separation. The resulting 65-component dual-platform fingerprint offers a preliminary metabolomics approach for ginger's geographical indication certification and highlights the potential value of integrating volatile and non-volatile datasets in improving origin tracing of plant-based foods, based on the conditions and samples examined in this study.