Preliminary study on the geographical origin of Chinese 'Cuiguan' pears using integrated stable isotope and multi-element analyses

Distinguish the geographical origin of the pear is important due to the increasingly valued brand protection and reducing the potential food safety risks. In this study, the profiles of stable isotopes (δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N, δ²H, δ¹⁸O) and the contents of 16 elements in pear peer from four production areas were analyzed. The δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N, δ²H, δ¹⁸O and 12 elements were significantly different (<i>p</i> < 0.05) in the four production areas. Chemometrics analysis including principal component analysis (PCA), orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) were exploited for geographical origin classification of samples. OPLS-DA analysis showed that crucial variables (δ¹³C, δ¹⁸O, δ²H, Ni, Cd, Ca, δ¹⁵N, Sr and Ga) are more relevant for the discrimination of the samples. OPLS-DA achieved pear origin accuracy rates of 87.76 % by combining stable isotope ratios and elemental contents. LDA had a higher accuracy rate than OPLS-DA, and the LDA analysis showed that the original discrimination rate reached to 100 %, while the cross-validated rate reached to 95.7 %. These studies indicated that this method could be used to assess the geographical discrimination of pear from different producing areas and could potentially control the fair trade of pear in fruit markets.