SPME Technique for Quality Assessment of Traditional Food.

In food the volatile constituent investigation provides useful information for quality assessment and, in this context, the advantages of the SPME technique are well known. Here the useful of the SPME technique coupled with GC-MS has been proved for characterization, traceability, processing method and shelf-life definition of traditional food. Traditional food is a food with a specific feature or features, which distinguish it clearly from other similar products of the same category in terms of the use of “traditional ingredients” (raw materials of primary products) or “traditional composition” or “traditional type of production and/or processing method”. In particularly, when Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) or Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) labels are required it is necessary to specify the characteristics of the products. Moreover, it could be important to prove a difference of quality between non-certified and certified products and obviously different strategies could be used. An interesting approach is the study of the volatile constituents of traditional food which has been carried on traditional Sicilian products such as dairy products, wines and vegetables.