Quality and authenticity control of apricot and peach based fruit products

The objective of the present work is the establishment of practicable and reliable methods for the determination of fruit product authenticity and fruit content. Emphasis is put on products derived from apricots including fruit preparations and jams as well as spreads from peaches and strawberries, respectively, due to their market relevance in the segment of sweet fruit preparations. Focus is given to promising approaches which have so far not been considered appropriately. The novel method should find voluntary application both in fruit processing companies and in the food inspection board. Therefore, easy handling, reliability, and reproducibility are a prerequisite. For this purpose, it should be tested whether a previously reported isolation method, established by Fügel et al. (2004) for authenticity control of cherry, strawberry and apple preparations, is applicable in the complex matrix of highly processed apricot and peach products. In addition, differentiation of apricot and peach, both belonging to the genus Prunus, by characterisation of their neutral sugar profiles in specific cell wall fractions should be evaluated. Furthermore, pumpkins, which are representing scarcely investigated raw material, but potential fraudulent additives to apricot or peach products due to their colouring properties, should be included in the study. Analogous to previous investigations on strawberry and cherry fruit preparations, the suitability of the hemicellulose fraction for calculation of the fruit content of apricot and peach fruit preparations, jams and spreads should to be examined.