1 Selective Methods to Investigate Authenticity and 2 Geographical Origin of Mediterranean Food Products 3 Bor Krajnc, Luana Bontempo, Jose Luis Araus, Manuela Giovanetti, Carla 4 Alegria, Marco Lauteri, Angela Augusti, Naziha Atti, Samir Smeti, Fouad 5 Taous, Nour Eddine Amenzou, Maja Podgornik, Federica Camin, Pedro Reis, 6 Cristina Máguas, Milena Bučar Miklavčič & Nives Ogrinc 7 To cite this article: Bor Krajnc, Luana Bontempo, Jose Luis Araus, Manuela Giovanetti, Carla 8 Alegria, Marco Lauteri, Angela Augusti, Naziha Atti, Samir Smeti, Fouad Taous, Nour Eddine 9 Amenzou, Maja Podgornik, Federica Camin, Pedro Reis, Cristina Máguas, Milena Bučar Miklavčič 10 & Nives Ogrinc (2020): Selective Methods to Investigate Authenticity and Geographical Origin of 11 Mediterranean Food Products, Food Reviews International, DOI: 10.1080/87559129.2020.1717521 12 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/87559129.2020.1717521 13 1 14 Selective Methods to Investigate Authenticity and Geographical Origin of 15 Mediterranean Food Products 16 Bor Krajnc1, Luana Bontempo2, Jose L. Araus Ortega3, Manuela Giovanetti4, Carla Alegria4, 17 Marco Lauteri5, Angela Augusti5, Naziha Atti6, Samir Smeti6, Fouad Taous7, Nour Eddine 18 Amenzou7, Maja Podgornik8, Federica Camin2, Pedro Reis9, Cristina Máguas4, Milena Bučar 19 Miklavčič8, and Nives Ogrinc1 20 1 Department of Environmental Sciences, Jožef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia 21 2Department of Food Quality and Nutrition, Research and Innovation Centre, Fondazione 22 Edmund Mach, San Michele All'Adige, Italy 23 3Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain 24 4Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes (cE3c), da Faculdade de 25 Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal 26 5 Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Ricerca sugli Ecosistemi Terrestri, Porano 27 (TR), Italy 28 6Institut National de Recherche Agronomique de Tunisie, Tunis 29 7Centre National De L'énergie, Des Sciences Et Techniques Nucleaires, Rabat, Morocco 30 8Science and Research Centre Koper, Institute for Oliveculture, Koper, Slovenia 31 9Instituto Nacional de Investigação Agrária e Veterinária, Oeiras, Portugal 32 33 Corresponding author: 34 Nives Ogrinc 35 Tel: +386 1 5885 387 36 e-mail: [email protected] 37 2 38 Abstract 39 The Mediterranean diet is promoted as one of the healthiest and closely linked to 40 socioecological practices, knowledge and traditions, promoting sustainable food production, 41 and linking geographical origin with food quality and ecosystem services. Consumer 42 adherence to this dietary pattern drives increased consumption of authentic “premium” foods, 43 such as Iberian pig meat and dry-cured ham from Portugal and Spain, argan oil from Morocco, 44 “Djebel” lamb from Tunisia and truffles from Italy and Slovenia, i.e., food products that 45 respond to current ethical, environmental and socially sustainable demands. Geographical 46 indication and appellation of origin can increase traditional food products competitiveness, 47 but the high-value recognition of these products can also lead to economically motivated 48 product adulteration. It is therefore imperative to protect the high added value of these unique 49 food products by ensuring their quality, authenticity, provenance and sustainable production 50 systems. In this review, we provide a critical evaluation of the analytical methods that are 51 currently used for the determination of provenance and authenticity of these Mediterranean 52 products as well as possible strategies for improving the throughput and affordability of the 53 methods discussed. 54 Keywords: geographical origin; stable isotope ratios; elemental profiles; 55 molecular characterization; authenticity; traceability 56 3 57 Introduction 58 The concept of food “authenticity” refers to its genuineness, and intactness, implying that the 59 food complies with its label description. It is a term that also encompasses features, such as 60 the origin (specific, geographic or genetic), production management system (conventional, 61 organic, traditional practices, free-range) and processing technology. The term “traceability” 62 refers to the ability to track any food, feed, food-producing animal or substance that will be 63 used for consumption, through all stages of production, processing, and distribution 64 (Regulation (EC) No 178/2002) [1]. Worldwide, consumer demand for food quality and 65 distinctiveness is growing, as is concern over issues of food authenticity, traceability, safety, 66 nutrition, and sustainable production. The awareness of traditional cultivation and processing 67 practice provides consumers with the perception that food is authentic, safe and has a high 68 intrinsic quality. A major concern is that the link between food and territory has been largely 69 lost over time due to changes in food production and marketing strategies, along with the 70 consumer exposure to external supply through travels and media [2]. Food adulteration is 71 potentially harmful to human health and so food safety and quality control constitute an 72 important issue in food chemistry and related subjects. For this reason, the main players in 73 the food chain, regulatory authorities, food processor, retailers and consumers, are very 74 interested in the certification of food authenticity. 75 In Europe, geographical origin is one of the main authenticity issues concerning food, as 76 stressed in a recent publication [3]. The Council Regulation (EC) No 509/2006 [4] protects 77 consumers through a system of effective and impartial controls that define, within the 78 Common Market, the safeguard of the ‘Protected Designation of Origin’ (PDO), ‘Protected 79 Geographical Indications’ (PGI) and ‘Traditional Specialties Guaranteed’ (TSG). More 80 recently, Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 introduced an optional second tier of quality 81 systems based on the quality terms “mountain product” and “product of island farming” [5], 4 82 while at the same time, meeting the producers’ requirement only objective and precise 83 controls can protect the authenticity of food products on the market. Such regulation is also 84 of economic importance to many stakeholders allowing them recognition and a premium 85 price. The use of standards and certifications can act as a warranty of quality to gain the trust 86 and confidence of consumers since food products must respond to current ethical, 87 environmental and socially sustainable claims. Several traditional Mediterranean food 88 products can benefit from these measures since their intrinsic value exceeds nutritional 89 quality. Such intrinsic values are usually associated with peculiar microclimates and soil 90 properties (e.g. the terroir), unique agricultural systems of production, varieties or races. This 91 is often reflected in higher content of antioxidants and healthy fats and has specific 92 organoleptic characteristics associated with consumers’ preferences [6]. Beyond their 93 nutritional values, the distinctiveness of these food products is linked to the highest quality 94 associated with traditional sustainable production methods which, in turn, boost local 95 economies and cultural and natural heritage protection. 96 The Mediterranean is also the region where a body of national definitions and rules has been 97 created and developed for recognising and protecting these geographical indications. The 98 first “controlled designation of origin” appeared in France, and the approach then spread 99 around vineyard designations throughout the countries on the northern shores of the 100 Mediterranean followed by the European Union and was finally recognised at the 101 international level (TRIPS Agreement). At that level, the Mediterranean countries seem to be 102 amongst the most dynamic in this field; a large number of geographical indications have 103 been registered there (in France, Italy, Spain and Turkey), and policies to support these 104 measures have been developed and strengthened, particularly in Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan 105 and Lebanon. Thus, it is not surprising that most of food authentication studies came from 106 Mediterranean countries [7]. 5 107 Several national and international projects have been proposed to promote 108 Mediterranean traditional food products. One of these is the recently funded REALMed 109 project “Pursuing authenticity and valorization of Mediterranean traditional products” 110 (ARIMNET 2 call 2016) that focuses on premium Mediterranean products, typical of local 111 cultures of various countries, for example, Moroccan argan oil, Portuguese and Spanish 112 black Iberian pig, Italian and Slovenian truffles and Tunisian mountain lamb (Fig. 1). A 113 characteristic feature of these projects is that each premium product is linked intimately to its 114 socioecological context. Thus, any attempt of production broadening is likely to overcome 115 both the geographic boundaries and the fraud limits. 116 [Figure 1 near here] 117 False use of geographical indications by unauthorised parties is detrimental to 118 consumers and legitimate producers. The three most important features that consumers 119 appreciate, as reported in Bryla (2015) [8], are in fact: traditionality, linked both to history 120 and common diet of a place; territoriality, linked with the geographic origin; and quality, 121 linked to health issues. Nevertheless, from a commercial and legal point of view, regulatory 122 authorities are requested to continuously update the analytical methods and conditions 123