13C NMR as a tool for authentication of different gadoid fish species with emphasis on phospholipid profiles

The aim of this study was to evaluate if phospholipid profiles obtained by 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is characteristic enough to separate species of lean gadoid fish. 13C NMR data were obtained from muscle lipids of five categories of lean gadoid fish, namely, north-east arctic cod and Norwegian coastal cod (Gadus morhua), haddock (Melanogrammus aeglifinus), saithe (Pollachius virens), and pollack (P. pollachius). A total of 27 fish caught at the same location on the Norwegian coast in the traditional fishing season (March/April) in 2006 were analysed. The sn-2 position specificity of 22:6n-3 (docosahexaenoic acid, DHA) in phosphatidyl choline (PC) and phosphatidyl ethanolamine (PE) for the different species/stocks were investigated, and the full 13C NMR spectra applied in multivariate analysis. Stereospecific distribution calculations showed significant differences among species in the distribution of 22:6n-3 in PC and PE, and the pollack group displayed the lowest values for 22:6n-3 in sn-2 position, both in PC and PE. This first screening showed that by using the 13C NMR fingerprint of muscle lipids, linear discriminant analysis gave a correct classification rate of 78% according to the five categories of lean gadoid fish, while successful classification (100%) was achieved with Bayesian belief networks (BBN) predictions.