Determining the geographic origin and species authenticity of marine fish fillet and roe using an NMR-Metabolomics approach

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and The World Health Organization highlighted key research gaps, such as authenticity and traceability, to better support decisions by consumers and policymakers. In this work, 1H NMR metabolomics was applied to distinguish the geographic origin – traceability, of fish fillets and discriminate the species – authenticity, of roe samples from the Portuguese coast. Fillet of Helicolenus dactylopterus, Merluccius merluccius, and Solea solea from four coastal regions were assessed as well as roe of Arnoglossus laterna, Chelidonichthys lucerna, Solea senegalensis, and Trisopterus luscus from one region. Regarding the geographic origin, NMR-metabolomics was able to distinguish the S. solea samples from the South Centre and South, while for the roe samples, this methodology was capable of grouping the two fish from the Order Pleuronectiformes as similar samples, while distinguishing them from T. luscus. This study attested the effectiveness of 1H NMR metabolomics to assess fishery product traceability and authenticity, allowing the identification of species substitution and mislabelling of geographic origin.