Soil’s Metal Content as Authentication Marker of Pakchoi Growing in Vietnam

Pakchoi (Brassica rapa subsp.chinensis), one kind of plant originating from China is widely grown in Vietnam and many other Southeast Asian countries.Based on the ability of Pakchoi to accumulate a variety of metals, distinguishing the origin of Pakchoi using metal content has been proven feasible.Therefore, the metal content in soil, the main source of Pakchoi's metal content is also a potential source for supporting the identification of geographical origin of plants.This study evaluated the ability to authenticate the origin of Pakchoi at several locations serving the Hanoi market through metal content in the soil.Twenty-seven metals in the soil of 4 regular cultivation locations serving the Hanoi market were determined using ICP-MS, then the data were analyzed by multivariate statistical analysis.The results of this study provided another way to discriminate the geographical origins of Pakchoi, as well as a way to support identification of the origins of other vegetable crops in the food market in the Northern of Vietnam.