title: Linking soil, water, and honey composition to assess the geographical origin of argentinean honey by multielemental and isotopic analyses.
abstract: The objective of this research was to investigate the development of a reliable fingerprint from elemental and isotopic signatures of Argentinean honey to assess its geographical provenance. Honey, soil, and water from three regions (Córdoba, Buenos Aires, and Entre Rı́os) were collected. The multielemental composition was determined by ICP-MS. δ(13)C was measured by isotopic ratio mass spectrometry, whereas the (87)Sr/(86)Sr ratio was determined using thermal ionization mass spectrometry. The data were analyzed by chemometrics looking for the association between the elements, stable isotopes, and honey samples from the three studied areas. Honey samples were differentiated by classification trees and discriminant analysis using a combination of eight key variables (Rb, K/Rb, B, U, (87)Sr/(86)Sr, Na, La, and Zn) presenting differences among the studied regions. The application of canonical correlation analysis and generalized procrustes analysis showed 91.5% consensus between soil, water, and honey samples, in addition to clear differences between studied areas. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first report demonstrating the correspondence between soil, water, and honey samples using different statistical methods, showing that elemental and isotopic honey compositions are related to soil and water characteristics of the site of origin.
authors.affiliation: †ICYTAC, Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnologı́a de Alimentos Córdoba, CONICET and ISIDSA-Facultad de Ciencias Quı́micas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Ciudad Universitaria, 5000 Córdoba, Argentina.
authors.forename: María V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Baroni
authors.affiliation: †ICYTAC, Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnologı́a de Alimentos Córdoba, CONICET and ISIDSA-Facultad de Ciencias Quı́micas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Ciudad Universitaria, 5000 Córdoba, Argentina.
authors.forename: Natalia S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Podio
authors.affiliation: ‡Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnologı́a Provincia de Córdoba-CEPROCOR, Santa Marı́a de Punilla, Córdoba, Argentina.
authors.forename: Raúl G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Badini
authors.affiliation: ‡Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnologı́a Provincia de Córdoba-CEPROCOR, Santa Marı́a de Punilla, Córdoba, Argentina.
authors.forename: Marcela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Inga
authors.affiliation: §Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales-INGEIS, Universidad de Buenos Aires-CONICET, Ciudad Universitaria, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Héctor A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Ostera
authors.affiliation: §Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales-INGEIS, Universidad de Buenos Aires-CONICET, Ciudad Universitaria, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Mariana
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cagnoni
authors.affiliation: ⊥Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica, Gerencia Quı́mica, Centro Atómico Constituyentes, San Martı́n, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Eduardo A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Gautier
authors.affiliation: ΔFacultad de Ciencias Veterinarias-IGEVET, Universidad Nacional de La Plata-CONICET, Ciudad Universitaria, La Plata, Argentina.
authors.forename: Pilar Peral
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: García
authors.affiliation: #Department of Chemistry, University of Otago, P.O. Box 56, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Jurian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hoogewerff
authors.affiliation: †ICYTAC, Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnologı́a de Alimentos Córdoba, CONICET and ISIDSA-Facultad de Ciencias Quı́micas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Ciudad Universitaria, 5000 Córdoba, Argentina.
authors.forename: Daniel A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Wunderlin
mesh_terms: D001118:Argentina; D002247:Carbon Isotopes / Q000032:analysis; D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D005843:Geography; D006722:Honey / Q000032:analysis*; D013058:Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry*; D014131:Trace Elements / Q000032:analysis*; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D002247:Carbon Isotopes; D012987:Soil; D014131:Trace Elements; D014867:Water
keywords: authenticity; fingerprint; geographical origin; honey; isotopic composition; trace elements; traceability