Autenticação de cafés brasileiros baseada em análise metabolômica e quimiometria

Abstract

Coffee is one of the most important commodities in the world, Brazil being the largest producer and exporter of the grain (Coffea arabica and Coffea canephora). Brazilian coffees are recognized for their high sensory quality and stimulating power. The chemical composition of the coffee is influenced by several factors, such as the altitude at which the plant is grown, types of drying of the grain, degree of roasting in which the grains are exposed, the cultivation system used (organic or conventional), among others. The coffee market values products with certified cultivation system and place of production. In this way, the general objective of the work was to evaluate the effect of the system of cultivation, geographic origin, and botanical origin of Brazilian coffees in the phenolic composition, physical-chemical characteristics, and antioxidant properties. A total of 45 Brazilian coffees from Minas Gerais (MG, n = 13), São Paulo (SP; n = 11), Paraná (PR; n = 8), Espírito Santo (N = 2), and blends: PR/MG/SP (n = 1), MG/SP (n = 6), PR/ES / Roraima (RO) (n = 1). In order to evaluate the effects of the cultivation systems, n = 19 organic (ORG) and n = 26 conventional (CONV) were used. Coffea arabica coffees n = 41 and blends n = 4 were studied in relation to the botanical origin. The results of the inferential statistics showed that the ability to chelate Fe2+ , caffeic acid content, and pH were different among the producing regions, and the principal component analysis (PCA) did not show a clear separation of the coffees from different geographic origins. Partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) classified only the Paraná and blends samples. The cultivation system (ORG and CONV) influenced significantly (p<0.05) the antioxidant activity and phenolic composition of the coffee, so that ORG samples showed lower levels of quercetin-3- rutinoside, antioxidant activity measured by FRAP and chelation of Fe2+, and lower total phenolic contents. PCA separated the two groups effectively, while the PLS-DA model ranked cultivation systems effectively above 90%. In relation to the botanical origin, only the caffeine content was different between C. arabica and blends, which made the botanical origin classification of the coffee samples possible (100% efficacy) by PLS-DA. It is concluded that the use of metabolomics in relation to chemical constituents, antioxidant activity and physico-chemical properties can be used as markers for the evaluation of the botanical, geographical origins and the cultivation system of Brazilian coffee. These data are of interest to industries and government agencies that food authentication is of the utmost importance in order to have a fraudfree, commercially competitive and consumer-safe product.