Analysis of Fruit Juice Adulterated with Medium Invert Sugar from Beets

The source of sweetener can be other juices or sugar derived from fruits or vegetables. One adulterant currently in use is partially inverted sucrose, wherein about one-half of the sucrose has been hydrolyzed to glucose and fructose. This ratio of approximately 1: 1:2 (glucose: fructose: sucrose) closely matches the ratio found in orange juice.

Recently, investigators using high performance anion exchange chromatography with pulsed amperometric detection (HPAE-PAD) have discovered several components in beet medium invert sugar (BMIS) that are not present in orange juice. Swallow, Low, and Petrus have suggested that a pattern of late-eluting components appearing at about 60 minutes be used to identify adulteration. Tsang and co-workers have used raffinose - a trisaccharide of D-glucose, D-fructose and D-galactose – as a marker for orange juice adulteration. A third method, similar to that of Swallow, et al., uses only one analytical column and also exhibits a pattern of late-eluting components indicative of adulteration by BMIS

Conditions and illustrative chromatograms for each method are included in this application note.