Beverage Fraud Prevention using Isotope Fingerprints

The beverage industry suffers from fraudulent activities that include incorrect labeling of products and adulteration, which has a significant impact on consumer safety, brand names, and reputation.

Stable isotope measurements can differentiate between beverage samples that otherwise share identical chemical composition. This differentiation is given by the isotope fingerprints. The isotope fingerprint in beverage products is region- or process-specific, which means that products can be differentiated based on geographical region (e.g. wine or tequila ), agricultural sources (e.g. whiskey), and brewing processes (e.g. sake). Fraudulent practices such as mislabeling, sugar addition, or watering of wines and spirits can be unraveled.

Presenter: Mario Tuthorn (Product Marketing Manager, Thermo Fisher Scientific)

After completing his PhD in Isotope Biogeochemistry at the University of Bayreuth, Germany, Mario joined Thermo Fisher Scientific in Bremen in 2016 as an application specialist for the Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry portfolio, developing applications and methods for compound specific isotope analysis in a variety of fields by using gas and liquid chromatography. Since 2019, Mario has taken on the Product Marketing Manager role for gas isotope ratio MS and organic elemental analyzer instrumentation, focusing on product positioning and marketing activities.