foods Article Comparison of Chemical Composition and Safety Issues in Fish Roe Products: Application of Chemometrics to Chemical Data Mauro Vasconi 1 , Erica Tirloni 2, Simone Stella 2, Chiara Coppola 2 , Annalaura Lopez 1,* , Federica Bellagamba 1 , Cristian Bernardi 2 and Vittorio Maria Moretti 1 1 Department of Veterinary Medicine, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via dell’Università, 6, 26900 Lodi (LO), Italy;
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[email protected]; Tel.: +39-02-50315759 Received: 22 March 2020; Accepted: 21 April 2020; Published: 27 April 2020 Abstract: Processed fish roes are acquiring considerable importance in the modern food market, entering more and more often as an ingredient in food preparation and as caviar substitutes. In this study, we defined quality, traceability and safety issues related to processed fish roe products from different species. The results obtained allowed to distinguish eggs originated from different fish species and to discriminate between fish roes and caviar samples obtained from four different sturgeons species. We observed that roes showed a trend of grouping according to ecological and reproductive habits of fish species. We highlighted the differences between eggs originated by farmed and freshwater fish, enriched in n6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), and all the others, in which n3 PUFAs were prevalent.