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Characterization of Italian Durum Wheat Semolina by Means of Chemical Analytical and Spectroscopic Determinations

¹Dipartimento di Chimica, Campus Universitario, Università di Bari, Via Orabona 4, 70126 Bari, Italy. ²Istituto Sperimentale per la Cerealicoltura, S.S.16, Km.675, 71100 Foggia, Italy. ³SPIN, via Tamagno, 3, 42048 Rubiera (RE), Italy. ⁴Commission of the European Communities, Joint Research Centre, Institute for Health and Consumer Protection, Food Products and Consumer Goods Unit, I-21020 Ispra (VA), Italy. ⁵Istituto di Preparazioni e Produzioni Alimentari, Università di Foggia, Via Napoli 25, 71100 Foggia, Italy. ⁶Corresponding author. Phone: +39 0881 589102. Fax: +39 0881 740211. E-mail: a.sacco@unifg.it

Proton high-resolution magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H HR-MAS NMR) has been applied for the analysis of two cultivars of durum wheat produced in different Italian geographical areas. Furthermore, on the same samples, isotopic ratios were measured by mass spectrometry (IRMS). The application of chemometrics to these results permitted the discrimination of semolina by cultivar and geographical origin. A similar approach has been applied to the results obtained from chemical analyses. The comparison showed that NMR spectroscopy can provide a faster method for the detection of differences among the durum wheat semolina according to geographical and varietal origin. Furthermore, IRMS data are suitable to provide information about the geographical origin of samples. This present investigation is part of an extensive research project to find a scientific method capable of classifying wheat foods for the assignment of a “denomination of origin” trademark.