Identification of fruit (fruit) distillates and alcoholic beverages based on them

Currently, there is an increase in consumer demand for alcoholic drinks based on fruit distillates, including fruit vodkas. In accordance with current regulatory documentation, fruit vodkas are produced without the addition of any flavors or artificial colors. This allows them to be classified as an elite group of alcoholic products and, at the same time, increases the risk of falsification. Common methods of adulterating fruit vodkas are: complete or partial replacement of fruit ethanol with ethanol of non-fruit origin; introduction of flavoring additives and flavorings; replacement of expensive fruit raw materials with other, cheaper raw materials. In this regard, ensuring the quality and safety of distillates and alcoholic beverages from fruit raw materials and increasing the efficiency of their identification are urgent tasks. he analysis of regulatory documentation and experimental data is devoted to the issues of identifying counterfeit products based on them. The features of the composition of fruit (fruit) distillates and alcoholic drinks from stone fruit raw materials are considered. Approaches to determining their origin and methods of establishing authenticity based on botanical origin are analyzed. It has been shown that products from certain types of fruit stone raw materials can be differentiated by the ratio of the concentrations of the main higher alcohols (1-propanol / sum of isobutanol and isoamylol). It has been established that the value of the indicator 1-propanol/isobutanol+isoamylol practically does not change during product storage and, therefore, can be used as an identification criterion. The presence in certain concentrations of propylene glycol and/or benzyl alcohol and/or triacetin, often used as flavor components, in products may indicate the presence of the latter. Isotope mass spectrometry can also be used to determine the presence of non-fruit alcohols. The possibility of using the ratio of optical isomers of individual volatile chiral compounds, including terpenes, as an additional criterion for differentiating distillates from fruit stone raw materials was noted. It has been shown that to identify distillates from dogwood it is possible to use specific marker compounds – decanal, methyl (Z)-9-octadecenoate, -cadinene.