Proposal for analyzing the adulterant cornstarch in turmeric powder in benchtop magnetic resonance equipment

• Grant number: 24/03111-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: May 01, 2024
• End date: April 30, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Food Science and Technology - Food Science
• Principal Investigator: Tiago Bueno de Moraes
• Grantee: Daniela Antunes de Araújo Silva
• Host Institution: Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Food fraud is the activity of deceiving the consumer to obtain economic gains, through the addition, substitution, dilution of a food, raw material or the falsification of a product. In the food sector, several physical and chemical techniques can be used to detect these frauds, where nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy is one of them, with great importance for the sector. In recent years, a series of new magnetic resonance equipment has been launched on the market, opening a window of new opportunities for the development of new applications, since this equipment is portable, low cost, does not use cryogenic liquids, and does not require solvents. deuterated, and are built to be used in practical solutions in the production sector. In this scientific initiation project, we are proposing to introduce a student to this topic of detecting food fraud, using benchtop magnetic resonance equipment, a sector that will undoubtedly grow strongly in the coming years, both in the area of scientific research and in applications in the production sector. To this end, in this project we will evaluate the adulteration of turmeric powder (curcuma longa L.) with corn starch, a fraud constantly found on the market.