Abstract
Organic foods gaining popularity due its connection with the health, high nutritional value, and high quality. Therefore, it is of prime importance to develop the analytical methods to combat with food authentication and protect consumer from the food fraud. Conventional soy sauce (CS) and organic soy sauce (OS) were characterized and differentiate for the first time using H-1 NMR-based metabolomics approach. Classification methods like orthogonal partial least squares of discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) showed a significant (p < 0.01) separation among CS and OS yielding important metabolites contributing towards this separation. OS was characterized by increased levels of leucine, threonine, isoleucine, valine, choline, phenylalanine, tyrosine, lactate, and acetate whereas, CS showed elevated concentrations of glutamate, glucose, and sucrose. The abundance ratio of C-13 to C-12 was determined by H-1 NMR spectroscopy which showed an increased ratio of C-13 isotope in OS samples indicating the organically grown wheat and soybean used for the preparation of OS. The results can be helpful to convey the information to the end user to prevent them from economically motivated adulteration. This information could also pave the way to further trace and authenticate the raw materials used in the production of soy. (C) 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of King Saud University.