Detection of adulteration in apple juice by L-malic/total malic acid ratio: collaborative study

L-Malic acid is the predominate acid in pure apple juice and no D-malic acid should be present. Synthetic malic acid contains 50% D-malic acid, is inexpensive, and can be used to create nonauthentic apple juice. L-Malic/total malic ratios of 0.9 or less are indicative of a nonauthentic sample. Fourteen laboratories participated in a collaborative study to determine the L-malic/total malic acid ratio in apple juice. Ten samples of apple juice were sent to each laboratory. Authenticity of the samples varied from 0 to 100%. The coefficients of variation in all cases were acceptable, i.e., ca 5%. The method was adopted first action by AOAC INTERNATIONAL.