Agriculture

Investigators at Food and Drug Administration Discuss Research in Food Science

  2012 APR 19 - (VerticalNews.com) -- According to the authors of a study from College Park, Maryland, "Taste disturbances following consumption of pine nuts, referred to as 'pine mouth', have been reported by consumers in the United States and Europe. Nuts of Pinus armandii have been associated with pine mouth, and a diagnostic index (DI) measuring the content of Delta 5-unsaturated fatty acids relative to that of their fatty acid precursors has been proposed for identifying nuts from this species."

  "A 100 m SLB-IL 111 GC column was used to improve fatty acid separations, and 45 pine nut samples were analyzed, including pine mouth-associated samples. This study examined the use of a DI for the identification of mixtures of pine nut species and showed the limitation of morphological characteristics for species identification," wrote A.R. Fardin-Kia and colleagues, Food and Drug Administration.

  The researchers concluded: "DI values for many commercial samples did not match those of known reference species, indicating that the majority of pine nuts collected in the U.S. market, including those associated with pine mouth, are mixtures of nuts from different Pinus species."

  Fardin-Kia and colleagues published their study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (Characterization of Pine Nuts in the U.S. Market, Including Those Associated with "Pine Mouth", by GC-FID. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2012;60(10):2701-2711).

  For more information, contact A.R. Fardin-Kia, Food & Drug Administration, Center Food Safety & Appl Nutr, Off Regulatory Sci, College Park, MD 20740, United States.

  Publisher contact information for the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry is: Amer Chemical Soc, 1155 16TH St, NW, Washington, DC 20036, USA.

  Keywords: City:College Park, State:Maryland, Country:United States, Region:North and Central America, Food Science

  This article was prepared by VerticalNews Agriculture editors from staff and other reports. Copyright 2012, VerticalNews Agriculture via VerticalNews.com.