LAUSR

BACKGROUND New techniques are required to guarantee the authenticity of the food, especially for PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) trademarks. The genuineness of a product is directly related to the raw material and to the production process used. In this paper, the traceability of the PDO Mozzarella di Bufala Campana was investigated, using carbon, nitrogen and oxygen stable isotopes ratios, measured on buffalo feeding, milk and mozzarella, from Caserta and Salerno farms. Furthermore, 37 mozzarella brands were analyzed (C, N and O isotopes) from the different production areas, to characterize their origin. RESULTS The results of this work showed no changes in C and N isotopic ratios of milk and mozzarella, indicating no fractionation in the production process. The δ13 C of milk was influenced by feeding signal; while, milk δ15 N was regulated by fractionation occurring during ruminant metabolism. Mozzarella O isotopic signal resulted depleted respect to the milk one. About brands samples, it was found that the geographical differentiation is based more on carbon isotopes than on the nitrogen and oxygen one. CONCLUSION This work gives an important contribution to the knowledge regarding the traceability of such a particular cheese as mozzarella. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.