Triacylglycerols profiling as a chemical tool to identify mushrooms submitted to gamma or electron beam irradiation

In order to define irradiation treatment as a routine conservation methodology, it is imperative to develop chemometric indicators with the ability to distinguish irradiated from unirradiated foodstuffs. Electron spin resonance, photostimulated luminescence and thermoluminescence methods were employed to monitor radiation-induced markers, as well as different chemical compounds produced from the lipidic fraction of different foodstuffs. Apart from these methods, the specificity of triacylglycerol profiles has previously been detected in mushroom species, as has the effect of irradiation treatment in the triacylglycerol profiles of chestnut. Accordingly, the feasibility of using this as a chemometric indicator of irradiated mushrooms was evaluated. In line with the obtained results in literature, the effects of each type of irradiation were significantly different, as can be concluded from the correlations among discriminant functions and variables within each statistical test. Triacylglycerol profiling proved to be a useful tool to detect irradiated mushrooms, independently of the species or irradiation source, especially for doses above 1 kGy.