DOI: 10.5061/dryad.95x69p8jd
title: Spatial fingerprinting: horizontal fusion of multi-dimensional bio-tracers as solution to global food provenance problems

description: Building the capacity of efficiently determining the provenance of food
 products represents a crucial step towards the sustainability of the
 global food system. Whether it is for enforcing existing legislation or
 providing reliable information to consumers, technologies to verify
 geographical origin of food are being actively developed. Biological
 tracers (bio-tracers) such as DNA and stable isotopes have recently
 demonstrated their potential for determining provenance. Here we show that
 the data fusion of bio-tracers is a very powerful technique for
 geographical provenance discrimination. Based on 90 individuals of Sockeye
 salmon that originate from 3 different areas for which we measured 17
 bio-tracers, we demonstrate that increasing the combined bio-tracers
 results in stronger the discriminatory power. The generality of our
 results are mathematically demonstrated under simplifying assumptions and
 numerically confirmed in our case study using three commonly used
 supervised learning techniques.
description: Muscle tissue trimmings were donated by Albion Farms &
 Fisheries Ltd. (now Intercity Packers Ltd.), Richmond, BC, Canada. All
 samples were derived from fillet trimmings to simulate a likely Quality
 Assurance/Quality Control scenario. Each muscle trimming was processed to
 obtain 2 muscle tissue samples for analyzing 17 bio-tracers of two
 classes: 3 stables isotopes (δ 15 N, δ 13C and δ 34S) and 14 fatty acids
 (FA). One muscle sample from each fish was delivered frozen to the Lipid
 Analytical Services at the University of Guelph for fatty acid analysis
 using a combination of Bligh & Dwyer and Morrison & Smith
 methods.46,47 Individual FA weights (μg/g) were converted to a % FA
 composition. The second muscle samples were dried at 70°C for 2 days and
 ground into a fine powder in preparation for stable isotope analysis.
 Tissue samples were sent to the University of Windsor GLIER Chemical
 Tracers Lab for isotopic analysis of δ 15N, δ13 C and δ 34S (Windsor, ON,
 Canada).
description: Columns are as follows. - id: sample
 identifier - isotopic ratios<br>   - cal_d13C:
 δ13C (Carbon 13)<br>   - cal_d15N: δ15N (Nitrogen 15)<br>   -
 cal_d34S: δ34S (Sulfur 34) - Composition of fatty acid
 (%, note that only fatty acids with &gt;1% presence were
 retained).<br>   - FA_C16_0: Palmitic acid (C16:0, PubChem CID:
 985)<br>   - FA_C16_1: Palmitoleic acid (C16:1, PubChem CID:
 445638)<br>   - FA_C18_0: Stearic acid (C18:0, PubChem CID:
 5281)<br>   - FA_C18_1: Oleic acid (C18:1, PubChem CID:
 445639)<br>   - FA_C18_2n6: Linoleic acid (C18:2, PubChem CID:
 5280450)<br>   - FA_C18_3n3: α-linolenic acid (C18:3, PubChem CID:
 5280934)<br>   - FA_C18_4n3: Stearidonic acid (C18:4, PubChem CID:
 5312508)<br>   - FA_C20_1: Gondoic acid (C20:1, PubChem CID:
 5282768)<br>   - FA_C20_4n3: Eicosatetraenoic acid (C20:4, PubChem
 CID: 21863049)<br>   - FA_C20_5n3: Eicosapentaenoic acid (C20:5,
 PubChem CID: 446284)<br>   - FA_C22_1: Erucic acid (C22:1, PubChem
 CID: 5281116)<br>   - FA_C22_5n3: Docosapentaenoic acid (C22:5,
 PubChem CID: 5497182)<br>   - FA_C22_6n3: Docosahexaenoic acid
 (C22:6, PubChem CID: 445580)<br>   - FA_C24_1: Nervonic acid (C24:1,
 PubChem CID: 5281120)