title: Determination of the country of origin of garlic (Allium sativum) using trace metal profiling.
abstract: A method for determining the country of origin of garlic by comparing the trace metal profile of the sample to an authentic garlic database is presented. Protocols for sample preparation, high-resolution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, and multivariate statistics are provided. The criteria used for making a country of origin prediction are also presented. Indications are that the method presented here may be used to determine the geographic origin of other agricultural products.
authors.affiliation: U.S. Customs and Border Protection Laboratory, 214 Bourne Boulevard, Savannah, Georgia 31408, USA.
authors.forename: Ralph G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003132:Commerce / Q000191:economics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D005737:Garlic / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000145:classification*; D008670:Metals / Q000032:analysis*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D008670:Metals