A research on the determination of composition of grape vinegars produced in turkey and their conformity to food legislation

This research was undertaken to determine general composition, residual metal-metaloid content and main volatile compounds of some grape vinegars produced in Turkey. Furthermore, conformity of the vinegars to Turkish Food Legislation was also investigated. 12 different vinegars were purchased and coded from S1 to S12. General composition of the vinegars were determined by physicochemical analysis (density, alcohol, dry matter, reducing sugars, total acidity, volatile acidity, pH, ash, total SO2, acetil methyl carbinol test); residual metal-metaloid analysis by atomic absorption spectrophotometry and volatile compounds (esters, aldehites, higher alcohols) by GC.According to the results, one of the 12 vinegar samples was found to be unnatural (S12) and produced synthetically; alcohol levels in all the samples were under the limits; all the samples except one were found to comply with the standards in terms of total acidity. In terms of residual metal metalloid only one sample (S1) had slightly high iron content and the rest were in accord with Turkish Food Legislation in terms of iron, copper+zinc, arsenic, and lead. SO2 contents of the all samples were found to be within the limit.No volatile compound was found in the unnatural sample and the rest of the samples contained the following volatiles: esters 0-15.8 mg/L, aldehits 2.7-30.4 mg/L and higher alcohol 2.3-29.5 mg/L.All the samples except one were found to be in accord with the Turkish Food Legislation