Evaluation of macro- and microelement levels for verifying the authenticity of organic eggs by using chemometric techniques

Abstract

Elemental determination was carried out on 60 egg samples (37 organic and 23 non-organic), with the goal of identifying significant differences between the two types of eggs for classification purposes. Inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry was used for the determination of 19 elements, As, Ba, Ca, Co, Cr, Cu, Eu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni, P, Rb, Se, Tl, V and Zn. As, Co, Fe, Mn, Rb, Se, Tl and V levels were found to be higher in organic versus non-organic eggs, while Cr and P levels were higher in regular versus organic samples. The remaining investigated elements exhibited statistically equivalent concentration levels in the two types of eggs. Principal component analysis (PCA) and soft independent modeling of class analogy (SIMCA) statistical techniques of the elemental fingerprints were readily able to discriminate organic from regular egg samples and can be used as alternative methods for adulteration evaluation.