Using Liquid Chromatography—Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry for Detection of Economically Motivated Adulteration of Maple Syrup

Abstract

Abstract Background Maple syrup is a sought-after commodity, and used as a condiment and a sweetener. Also, it is an active target of economically motivated adulteration (EMA), similar to other foods such as lemon juice and honey. Objective This study is aimed to detect low cost sugar adulteration in maple syrup via an internal standard method using malic acid through solid-phase extraction (SPE) and LC with isotope ratio mass spectrometric detection (LC–IRMS). Methods In this work, an optimized SPE sample preparation procedure was used for the isolation of organic acids from maple syrup. Using LC–IRMS, malic acid was separated from other organic acids and the δ13C value of malic acid was determined. Eleven maple syrup samples, domestic or imported from Canada, were evaluated for 13C/12C ratios (δ13C values) using combustion module—cavity ring down spectrometry (CM-CRDS) and compared to the δ13C values obtained from well-established elemental analyzer–isotope ratio mass spectrometry (EA–IRMS) methods. The δ13C values of isolated malic acid analyzed by SPE–LC–IRMS were used as internal standards and compared to the δ13C values of bulk maple syrup; difference (δ13Csugars − δ13Cmalic acid) values greater than 3.6‰ are indicative of low-cost sugar adulteration. Results Overall, the results obtained from SPE–LC–IRMS provided a faster, novel analysis approach for determining low-cost sugar adulteration in maple syrup for regulatory purposes. This method also provided lower detectable limits of adulteration versus current literature reports using bulk analysis and comparable detection limits to Tremblay and co-workers who utilized an internal standard method. Conclusion SPE–LC–IRMS is a robust method that can be used for detecting adulteration in maple syrup samples for regulatory purposes. Highlights SPE-LC-IRMS is a faster, novel analysis approach for determining C4 adulteration in maple syrup with lower detection limits.