title: Discrimination of ginseng cultivation regions using light stable isotope analysis.
abstract: Korean ginseng is considered to be a precious health food in Asia. Today, thieves frequently compromise ginseng farms by pervasive theft. Thus, studies regarding the characteristics of ginseng according to growth region are required in order to deter ginseng thieves and prevent theft. In this study, 6 regions were selected on the basis of Korea regional criteria (si, gun, gu), and two ginseng-farms were randomly selected from each of the 6 regions. Then 4-6 samples of ginseng were acquired from each ginseng farm. The stable isotopic compositions of H, O, C, and N of the collected ginseng samples were analyzed. As a result, differences in the hydrogen isotope ratios could be used to distinguish regional differences, and differences in the nitrogen isotope ratios yielded characteristic information regarding the farms from which the samples were obtained. Thus, stable isotope values could be used to differentiate samples according to regional differences. Therefore, stable isotope analysis serves as a powerful tool to discriminate the regional origin of Korean ginseng samples from across Korea.
authors.affiliation: Chemical Analysis Division, National Forensic Service, Wonju-si 26460, Gangwon-do, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Kiwook
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Chemical Analysis Division, National Forensic Service, Wonju-si 26460, Gangwon-do, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Joo-Hyun
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Chemical Analysis Division, National Forensic Service, Wonju-si 26460, Gangwon-do, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Sang-Cheol
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Heo
authors.affiliation: Chemical Analysis Division, National Forensic Service, Wonju-si 26460, Gangwon-do, Republic of Korea; Department of Chemistry and Medical Chemistry, College of Science and Technology, Yonsei University, Wonju-si 26493, Gangwon-do, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Jin-Hee
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Chemical Analysis Division, National Forensic Service, Wonju-si 26460, Gangwon-do, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: In-Woo
authors.initials: IW
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.affiliation: Chemical Analysis Division, National Forensic Service, Wonju-si 26460, Gangwon-do, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: minjs@korea.kr.
authors.forename: Ji-Sook
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Min
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D002247:Carbon Isotopes / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D006859:Hydrogen / Q000032:analysis; D007554:Isotopes / Q000032:analysis; D013058:Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D009587:Nitrogen Isotopes / Q000032:analysis; D010103:Oxygen Isotopes / Q000032:analysis; D005894:Panax / Q000737:chemistry*; D056910:Republic of Korea; D013800:Theft
chemical_list: D002247:Carbon Isotopes; D007554:Isotopes; D009587:Nitrogen Isotopes; D010103:Oxygen Isotopes; D006859:Hydrogen
keywords: Discrimination; Elemental analyzer-isotope ratio mass spectrometer (EA-IRMS); Ginseng; Region; Stable isotope ratio