ABSTRACT
The ratio of the stable isotopes of oxygen (18O/16O) has been measured in the sugar, citric acid and water from authentic single strength orange juices, originating from a number of different countries. The sugars and citric acid were recovered from the juices and their 18O/16O ratios were determined by pyrolysis/continuous flow-isotope ratio mass spectrometry (Py/CF-IRMS). The 18O/16O ratio of the fruit juice water was determined by the carbon dioxide/water equilibration method. The delta 18O/1000 values of 45 different sugars ranged from +29.1 to +38.8/1000 and 15 citric acids ranged from +18.9 to +25.4/1000. The delta 18O/1000 value of the water present in the same samples ranged from -2.1 to +7.8/1000. A correlation was evident between the delta 18O/1000 values of the sugar, citric acid and water from the juices. This information can be used to improve the assessment of the authenticity of commercial 'freshly squeezed' orange juices. The detection of the presence of reconstituted orange juice concentrate in 'freshly squeezed' orange juices was improved by 37% using regression analysis of the combined water and sugar delta 18O/1000 ratios when compared to the use of delta 18O/1000 ratios of fruit juice water alone.
