Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
ACS Food Science & Technology, cilt.3, sa.10, ss.1768-1776, 2023 (ESCI)
Molasses (pekmez) is a widely consumed delicacy around the world and is prone to fraudulent practices like several other foodstuffs. The aim of this study is the optimization of mathematical models obtained based on the physicochemical properties for the detection of adulteration in various molasses varieties. The adulterated molasses samples were prepared by the addition of glucose and fructose syrups in carob, grape, fig, and mulberry molasses at different concentrations of 10–70%. As a result, the °Brix values of all molasses samples showed a linear increasing trend with the addition of glucose syrup. However, the fructose syrup addition resulted in a decrease in the °Brix values of the fig and grape molasses samples, while it caused an increase in other samples. The addition of both syrups increased the pH values of the grape molasses samples but decreased the pH values of other samples. In addition, a negative correlation between the °Brix values and water activity values was identified. The addition of sugar also decreased the water activity, ash, and conductivity values according to the findings. According to the results of the regression analysis, it was discovered that adulteration could be determined, notably by using the electrical conductivity and ash values. Considering these data, a linear relationship between the ash and electrical conductivity values was discovered. In conclusion, use of the optimized equations is promising for easy and fast detection of the adulteration in various molasses varieties