Elemental fingerprints confirm the geographic origin of grooved carpet shell (Ruditapes decussatus) in contiguous production areas with different sanitary classifications

Résumé fourni par la source

The grooved carpet shell ( Ruditapes decussatus ) is a key seafood product in Portuguese socioeconomy, with Ria Formosa in southern mainland Portugal being the world’s largest production area of this valuable bivalve. The consumption of bivalves may impact the health of consumers if these organisms are sourced from locations contaminated with metals and/or pathogenic microorganisms. The development of traceability tools can minimize public health risks, ensure product quality, and certify the legal origin of seafood. Elemental fingerprints (EF) have been successfully used to confirm the geographic origin of bivalves, as the elemental composition of their shells mirrors the environmental conditions that these organisms have experienced in the habitat where they have grown. The present study uses EF of the shells of R. decussatus to confirm their geographic origin at two different spatial scales: among different ecosystems (along the Atlantic NW, W, and SW Iberian coast - Ría de Pontevedra, Ría de Vigo, Óbidos lagoon and Ria Formosa), and within the same ecosystem (Ria Formosa, the world’s largest production area for this species). Overall, the results confirm that EF of grooved carpet shell are significantly different between harvesting locations and that they can be used to successfully identify the harvesting location at both spatial scales investigated with a 99.2% accuracy among different ecosystems and 59.2% within the same ecosystem. Indeed, EF also allows discriminating between different production zones for grooved carpet shell within the same ecosystem, making it possible to distinguish zones classified as B (Far1, Far2, Olh2, Olh4, Olh5, Tav, and FZ) with a correct allocation average of 57.1%. Even more importantly, it allows to pinpoint a production zone classified as C (Olh1) with 70% of correct allocation, and a production zone where harvesting is currently forbidden (Olh3) with a 65% classification accuracy.

Ce résumé expose les affirmations des auteurs. BNTIC ne l’interprète pas comme une validation indépendante des résultats.