Combined use of High-Resolution Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy (NMR) and multivariate statistical analysis for the differentiation of PDO Parmigiano Reggiano samples according to ripening and for the differentiation of PDO Parmigiano Reggiano from “Grana type” products available on the market.
The proposed method allows to monitor different classes of chemical compounds simultaneously, within a single experiment. The profiling of these compounds (metabolites) is different according to the ripening of Parmigiano Reggiano PDO, representing a sort of fingerprint. Moreover being Parmigiano Reggiano a PDO product, it has to be produced following the disciplinary indications. These latter determine a particular metabolic profile that can be used to differentiate PDO samples from “Grana type” or “Parmesan like” cheeses present on the market. Therefore the proposed method represents a valid analytical tool to guarantee the authenticity for the Parmigiano Reggiano PDO chain.