(www.neomundo.com.ar/_SINC) “the differentiation of the beer according to its origin can be using parameters related to its raw materials, such as water (metals and anions) and the type of hops (content in polyphenols)”, explains José Marcos jury, chemist at the University of Seville and director of a research to know the origin of the beers.
The first step is to select variables most distinctive beers, such as the amount of strontium, aluminium, iron, for example through a statistical test. Then applies another mathematical analysis to eliminate those parameters that do not discriminate well the origin of beverages, and the result is a model based on the content of iron, potassium, phosphorus, phosphates and polyphenols.
“Differences may seem subtle, but the model is capable of finding the relationship between these chemical descriptors and the geographical origin of the beers,” says jury. The last step is to apply “support vector machines”, a set of algorithms that recognize patterns in the data
Researchers have applied this technique to differentiate beers produced in Germany, Spain or Portugal and have managed to know which country they come from with 99.3% of effectiveness, according to the results published in the journal Food Control.
“This type of study can be extended to other geographical areas, but must take into account that to expand the number of classes obtaining an appropriate model is complicated”, clarifies jury. “Differentiation must be addressed considering large areas and studying a posteriori possible groupings that appear less large areas”.
Identification for the food industry
Studies of authenticity or geographical identification are “very important” in the food industry, according to the investigator, “since they allow establishing differentiating characteristics of the products, which can affect your marketing”. More information by clicking with the mouse on the logo of WWW.NEOMUNDO.COM.AR
