Detection of granular salmon fish caviar falsification by starch content

Grainy caviar salmon is one of the most valuable, nutritious and beneficial food products for human health, as it contains high-quality proteins, fats, polyunsaturated fatty acids, vitamins, micro- and macro elements. Currently, new varieties of caviar products are appearing on the Ukrainian market. Therefore, the reasons for the production and sale of fish caviar that does not meet regulatory requirements are, on the one hand, the imperfection of state oversight during the production and distribution, and on the other hand, the desire of unscrupulous manufacturers to reduce production costs in order to obtain excess profits by replacing one type of caviar with another, adding im itation caviar to natural caviar, replacing natural cav iar with artificial caviar, etc. The purpose of the study is to develop a method for detecting impurities of artificial granular caviar in natural granular salmon caviar based on starch content. The materials for the study were samples of natural granular caviar of salmon (n=16): chum salmon (n=4), pink salmon (n=4), trout (n=4), sockeye salm on (n=4), purchased from retail outlets in Kharkiv. Also, samples of imitation caviar (n=10) were studied, which were the objects of research in the forensic examination of food products conducted at National Scientific Center «Ноn. Prof. М.S. Bokarius Forensic Science Institute» of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine. The labeling of the imitation caviar indicated that it was natural caviar, but it did not meet the regulatory requirements for natural caviar. To detect the presence of artificial granular caviar in natural granular salmonid caviar, microscope slides containing homogenized caviar grains were stained with Lugol’s solution. The work substantiates and develops a method for detecting artificial granular caviar impurities in natural granular salmon caviar based on starch content by staining caviar grains with Lugol’s solution with an exposure time of 1–1.5 minutes. The method for detecting starch impurities in granular salmon caviar consists in homogenizing the studied granular caviar sample, adding 1–2 drops of Lugol’s solution, covering it with a coverslip, keeping it for 1.0–1.5 minutes, microscopically examin ing it using a stereomicroscope (magnification ×5.5, eyepiece ×10), examining at least 3 fields of view, and calculating the arithmetic mean of the number of starch granules stained blue per 1 field of view. If there is no starch impurity in the caviar, no colored starch grains are observed in the field of view of the microscope. The developed method can be employed to de tect non-compliance of granular salmon caviar with regulatory requirements for safety and quality. It is applicable in production laboratories of caviar plants, supermarkets, wholesale distributors, stores, state laboratories of the State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection, State Veteri nary and Sanitary Control Laboratories at agro-food markets, laboratories at designated border inspection posts for express testing, laboratories of scientific and research institutions, and specialized forensic institu tions during forensic examinations of caviar in cases of suspected falsification. Using the developed meth od, it is possible to obtain qualitative and quantitative indicators for assessing the quality of granular salm on caviar. Key words: forensic examination of food prod ucts, granular salmon caviar, quality, naturalness, falsification, diagnostic studies, criminal proceedings.