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Rapid evaporative ionization mass spectrometry coupled with an electrosurgical knife for the rapid identification of Mediterranean Sea species

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Abstract

The topic of food analysis and safety has attracted increasing interest in recent decades owing to recent scandals concerning fraudulent activities (mislabeling, sophistication, adulteration, etc.) that can undermine human health. Among them, seafood fraud has probably the strongest relationship with food safety, an activity that goes beyond economic interests. This article explores the capabilities of an innovative instrumental setup, called the “iKnife,” as a powerful tool in this specific research area, where until now genomics and proteomics have been the workhorses in analytical approaches. iKnife, which means “intelligent knife,” is the name of a recent technology based on rapid evaporative ionization mass spectrometry (REIMS). REIMS is an emerging technique able to characterize different samples rapidly, affording a comprehensive profile usable as a fingerprint, without the need for preliminary extraction or cleanup procedures. In detail, a REIMS source is coupled to a high-resolution tandem mass spectrometer; such coupling allows one to maximize the amount of information (discriminant features) collected for a single analysis, as well as to focus on target analytes to achieve enhanced sensitivity and selectivity. A database was created from 18 marine species typical of the Mediterranean Sea, all caught in the very small area of the Strait of Messina, and reliable identification was achieved for each species with confidence higher than 99%. One big model and three submodels were built by principal component analysis and linear discriminant analysis for unambiguous key variable identification within each class (e.g., Cephalopoda), order (e.g., Perciformes), or family (e.g., Carangidae).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chromaleont s.r.l., c/o Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences, University of Messina, Messina, Italy

    Francesca Rigano, Paola Dugo & Luigi Mondello

  2. Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences, University of Messina, Messina, Italy

    Domenica Mangraviti, Paola Dugo & Luigi Mondello

  3. Waters Corporation, Stamford Avenue, Altrincham Road, Wilmslow, SK9 4AX, UK

    Sara Stead & Nathaniel Martin

  4. Waters Corporation, Waters S.A.S., BP 608, 78056, Saint-Quentin, En Yvelines Cedex, France

    Davy Petit

  5. Unit of Food Science and Nutrition, Department of Medicine, University Campus Bio-Medico of Rome, Rome, Italy

    Paola Dugo & Luigi Mondello

  6. BeSep s.r.l., c/o Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences, University of Messina, Messina, Italy

    Luigi Mondello

Authors
  1. Francesca Rigano
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  2. Domenica Mangraviti
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  4. Nathaniel Martin
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  5. Davy Petit
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  6. Paola Dugo
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  7. Luigi Mondello
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Correspondence to Luigi Mondello.

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All applicable international, national, and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed. All procedures were in accordance with guidelines for the protection of animal welfare, in compliance with Directive 2010/63/EU, which updates and replaces the 1986 Directive 86/609/EEC on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes.

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Rigano, F., Mangraviti, D., Stead, S. et al. Rapid evaporative ionization mass spectrometry coupled with an electrosurgical knife for the rapid identification of Mediterranean Sea species. Anal Bioanal Chem 411, 6603–6614 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-019-02000-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-019-02000-z

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