Multivariate modelling techniques applied to metabolomic, elemental and isotopic fingerprints for the verification of regional geographical origin of Austrian carrots

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Funding Information:
We acknowledge the support of the project by the COMET-K1 competence center FFoQSI. The COMET-K1 competence center FFoQSI is funded by the Austrian ministries BMVIT , BMDW and the Austrian provinces Niederösterreich, Upper Austria and Vienna within the scope of COMET- Competence Centers for Excellent Technologies. The program COMET is handled by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency FFG. We also want to thank the carrot producers (Gärtnerei Ganger - Vienna, Gemüsehof Niedermaier - Upper Austria, Family Plank - Tyrol, Meusburger Jürgen - Vorarlberg, Gemüsebau Reiter - Salzburg) for their kind collaboration and the provision of the samples. We also greatly acknowledge Martin Wells for giving us opportunity to use a trial version of Progenesis QI 2.4 and Frank Kuhlmann for his support and advice on the use of Mass Hunter Profinder B.08.00.

Funding Information:
We acknowledge the support of the project by the COMET-K1 competence center FFoQSI. The COMET-K1 competence center FFoQSI is funded by the Austrian ministries BMVIT, BMDW and the Austrian provinces Nieder?sterreich, Upper Austria and Vienna within the scope of COMET- Competence Centers for Excellent Technologies. The program COMET is handled by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency FFG. We also want to thank the carrot producers (G?rtnerei Ganger - Vienna, Gem?sehof Niedermaier - Upper Austria, Family Plank - Tyrol, Meusburger J?rgen - Vorarlberg, Gem?sebau Reiter - Salzburg) for their kind collaboration and the provision of the samples. We also greatly acknowledge Martin Wells for giving us opportunity to use a trial version of Progenesis QI 2.4 and Frank Kuhlmann for his support and advice on the use of Mass Hunter Profinder B.08.00.

Funding Information:
In Europe, origin is one of the main authenticity issues concerning food. Therefore, the European Union has established legislation to protect the reputation of the regional food and to promote good practices in rural and agricultural areas using labels such as PDO (Protected Designation of Origin), PGI (Protected Geographical Indication), TSG (Traditional Specialties Guaranteed), or optional quality terms (OQT) such as “mountain product” and “product of island farming”) ( European Commission, 1992 ; European Commission, 2012 ). In Austria, gourmet regions (“Genussregionen”) were introduced by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Sustainability and Tourism (BMNT) and AgrarMarkt Austria marketing agency (AMA) with the aim to support local producers and promote Austrian traditional food. This project is also supported by the EU in the framework of agriculture and rural development. The gourmet regions label guarantees a traceable origin, absolute safety and high quality of food across Austria. Most domestic agricultural products in Austria (labelled as “Genussregionen”) are often more expensive than imported, possibly because of higher production and/or labour costs, administrative burdens, Austria's strict environmental legislation ( BMLFUW, 2015 ), high confidence in the quality and safety of these products or specific culinary or organoleptic qualities associated with regional products. As these products may yield a higher price on the market, it is possible that some producers and/or retailers supply agricultural products with false labelling of geographical origin to obtain illicit profits. Therefore, it is necessary to find reliable identification tools for Austrian primary agricultural products which allow tracing them back to their geographical origin. One of the most economically important vegetables grown in these specific regions (“Genussregionen”) in Austria ( AMA, 2018 ) and worldwide ( FAO, 2016 ) are carrots (Daucus carota L.). In Austria, the amount of domestic carrot production and importation in 2017 were 97813 t and 10443 t, respectively (AMA, 2018). For these reasons, carrots were chosen as a model test commodity in this study involving a range of advanced analytical methods.

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