Identification of volatile organic compounds generated from healthy and infected powdered chili using solvent-free solid injection coupled with GC/MS: Application to adulteration

• Published in: Food chemistry Vol. 156; pp. 326 - 332
• Main Authors: Ko, Ah-Young, Musfiqur Rahman, Md, Abd El-Aty, A.M., Jang, Jin, Choi, Jeong-Heui, Mamun, M.I.R., Shim, Jae-Han
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.08.2014; Elsevier
• Subjects: Acetates - analysis; Acetic Acid - analysis; Adulteration; Biological and medical sciences; Capsicum - chemistry; Chemical and industrial products toxicology. Toxic occupational diseases; Chili; Food Contamination; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry - methods; Healthy; Infected; Medical sciences; Red pepper powder; Solid injector; Solvents; Toxicology; Volatile Organic Compounds - chemistry; Chili; Infected; Red pepper powder; Solid injector; Adulteration; Healthy; Organic solvent; Pepper; Volatile organic compound; Identification; Injection; Powder
• ISSN: 0308-8146; 1873-7072
• DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2014.02.001

•VOCs were determined in chili powder using SFSI–GC/MS.•A total of 43 compounds were identified in healthy and infected chili powder.•Trimethylamine and isosorbide were detected in both medium and severe-infected chili.•These biomarkers could be used as a tool to investigate adulteration in chili.•The technique is very simple and needs no sample preparation. To investigate adulteration in commercial chili powder, the volatile organic compounds of healthy and infected powdered chili pepper were characterized using a solvent-free solid injector (SFSI) coupled with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Except for one compound (capillary compound for blank), 43 compounds were identified in healthy and infected chili powder. Specifically, 31, 36, and 41 compounds were identified in healthy, medium-infected, and severely infected chili powder. Among these compounds, acetic acid (13.77%), propanal (2.477%), N-methylpyrrole (1.986%), and 2-methyl-propanal (1.768%) were leading volatiles in the healthy chili powder. In contrast, infected chili powder contained 9,12-octadecadienoic acid, ethyl ester (15.984%), acetic acid (11.249%), hexadecanoic acid, methyl ester (3.3%), N-methylpyrrole (3.221%), and 2-furanmethanol (2.629%) as major compounds. Trimethylamine and isosorbide were detected in both medium and severely infected chili, but not in healthy chili. This means that these compounds could be used as biomarkers to distinguish between healthy and infected chili. The proposed technique was applied to 12 commercial chili powders, and trimethylamine and isosorbide were detected in six samples. These results suggest that a contaminated chili that was added to a healthy one could be successfully identified by a combination of the SFSI and GC/MS.