Summary
This application note presents a gradient method using a core shell column for the determination of various substances in Bourbon vanilla extracts as well as in natural and artificial vanilla flavors. The aim is to compare the ingredients to get a prove of the authenticity of Bourbon vanilla. Applying the KNAUER AZURA Analytical system, a very short analysis time and therewith low eluent consumption could be reached. The high speed and reliability of the method make it well-suited for routine analyses in food control.
Introduction
Vanillin is one of the most popular flavoring agents used in various food products, beverages as well as in the pharma and perfume industry. With a high demand for the supply of vanilla pods and the continued increase in price, artificial vanilla flavoring agents of synthetic origin are nowadays available. It is a phenolic aldehyde, primarily obtained from the extracts of the pods of Vanilla planifolia, a species of vanilla orchids. It is also found in roasted coffee and Chinese red pine. Chemically, vanillin is 4-Hydroxy-3-methyl benzaldehyde.1 The high demand for vanillin far exceeds the supply from all sources of vanilla orchids, which is the only vanilla flavor allowed to use the name “Bourbon vanilla”. The high price of natural vanillin, compared with that of synthetic vanillin, and the poor availability are the reasons for the production of vanillin via chemical synthesis since the 1870s. These processes use coniferin, guaiacol or eugenol as a precurser.2 Biotechnological processes like fermentation that use ferulic acid and rice bran as precursors of vanillin are a relatively new. Biotechnologically produced vanillin is much more cost intensive than chemically synthesized vanillin, but the EU allows this product to use the designation “natural vanilla flavor” while chemically synthesized flavor has to use the name “vanilla flavor”. Some substances from the chemical or biotechnological processes are unwanted in food products due to negative health effects. This makes an analytical control indispensable. These molecules as well as the precursors used in the chemical synthesis are appropriate markers for the differentiation between synthetic vanilla flavor and Bourbon vanilla extract. Analysis of this kind is getting more and more attention caused by food scandals in the last years.
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