Development of a new rapid method based on FT-NIR analysis to safeguard and enhance the traceability of sourdough bread

Research on fraud detection in the bread and bakery market, especially for traditional products like sourdough bread, has been largely overlooked over the years. The lack of legislation that regulates and protects traditional/typical sourdough breads, combined with the absence of official methods to discriminate breads made with and without sourdough, led the scientific community to act on it. Moreover, due to the elevated prices of these items resulting from specific production methods and premium ingredients, there is a pressing need to develop rapid, accurate, and reliable methods for verifying their authenticity. Modern analytical instrumentation, along with chemometric tools and machine learning algorithms, can aid in achieving these objectives by providing complex datasets. In this context, the Italian scientific community is actively contributing to innovative solutions aimed at enhancing food authenticity and ensuring the integrity of the agri-food chain (https://agritechcenter.it). The aim of this study was to use Fourier Transform Near Infrared (FT-NIR) spectroscopy to discrimante sourdough bread from baker's yeast-leavened counterparts. Breads were prepared with wheat flour and semolina, ingredients traditionally used for bread-making at the national level. Molecular interactions between FT-NIR and key chemical constituents, including water content, proteins and derivatives, lipids, carbohydrates, and organic acids were evaluated. The analysis targeted distinctive absorption patterns at specific wavelengths to establish a correlation between FT-NIR data and the unique chemical fingerprint of each bread type. This approach could not only enable rapid differentiation between different bread types but also offer valuable information on their specific chemical properties. The use of FT-NIR holds great promise for the bakery industry, ensuring authenticity, quality control and process optimization. This tool is expected to become an integral part of maintaining the integrity and high standards of traditional bakery products.