| Aquatic products are a general term referring to marine and freshwater fishery organisms and their products. Such products mainly include fish, shrimp, crabs, shellfish, and seaweed. Aquatic products are rich in nutrients such as proteins, vitamins, fatty acids, and minerals. However, the recent illegal counterfeiting of the geographic origin label for aquatic products has become a major problem, receiving increasing attention worldwide. China is the largest producer of aquatic products globally, with a wide variety of aquatic species (especially fish, shrimp, crab, shellfish, sea cucumber, and microalgae). Several of these products are famous, exotic, high-quality, and new or endorsed by protected designations of origin. As an increasing number of consumers pursue better quality aquatic products, many well-known aquatic product brands and the protection of geographical indication products have been established. Consumers prefer aquatic products of well-known origins or famous brands, and are willing to pay higher prices for their quality. It is noteworthy that unscrupulous businessmen frequently fake shoddy products as real ones to earn profits. In addition to adulteration, the unclear origin identification and mislabeling are also rampant. Counterfeit activities inevitably harm the legitimate interests of consumers, producers, and the fishery industry. Using “bathed” Chinese mitten crab to counterfeit the native crabs cultured in the Yangcheng Lake of Jiangsu Province is a typical case of the above-mentioned activities. However, the establishment of traceability systems related to aquatic products remains unaccomplished in China. Thus, it is imperative to accelerate research on the origin traceability of aquatic products, and use scientific and objective methods to identify and confirm the origin of the products. Moreover, accurate and reliable analysis approaches are a prerequisite for effectively solving the adulteration and mislabeling of aquatic products and have special significance for implementing the national policy of rural revitalization. So far, biogeochemical approaches have especially advanced with a set of techniques for traceability of aquatic product origins. In particular, the corresponding mineral elements (e.g., Sr, Ba, Zn, Ca, Na, Cu, Mg, Al, As, Be, Co, Cr, Fe, K, Mn, Ni, P, Ti, and Zn) and stable isotopes (e.g., δ13C, δ15N, δ2H, δ18O, and 87Sr/86Sr) analyses have received increasing attention. The composition and content of mineral elements and ratios of stable isotopes in different habitats of aquatic organisms have individual characteristics and the mineral element/stable isotope “fingerprints” profiles in aquatic products must be different owing to various bioassimilation and bioaccumulation processes of the elements to the organisms from different geographical production regions of either natural or aquaculture water environments. Therefore, chemometric (especially, multivariate statistical authenticity analysis, e.g., discriminant analysis and principal component analysis) models based on the aforementioned “fingerprints” profiles (i.e., multi-elements, multi-stable isotopes, and the combination of multi-element and stable isotope) can be used to discriminate between aquatic products of wild or farmed origin, geographical origin, and species authenticity. This review summarizes the progress of the principles and applications of approaches to multi-mineral elements and stable isotopes traceability in aquatic products. Although the element uptake in fishery organisms may be influenced to some degree by water pollution and artificial diet, the availability of multi-elements/stable isotopes in ambient habitat waters and their bioassimilation/bioaccumulation are the most consistent and prominent factors influencing the biogeochemical “fingerprint” profiles in aquatic products. Advanced chemical analysis techniques can precisely and accurately reveal these profiles; for example, inductively coupled plasma (ICP) optical emission spectroscopy, ICP-atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES), ICP-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), laser ablation-ICP-MS, single collector quadrupole-ICP-MS, isotope ratio mass spectrometry, and multi-collector-ICP-MS. Successful studies of geographical origin traceability have already been reported in literature involving in many fishery species; e.g., Prochilodus lineatus, Genidens genidens, Eriocheir sinensis, Sepia officinalis, Dosidicus gigas, Ruditapes philippinarum, Mytilus edulis, Mytilus galloprovincialis, Patinopecten yessoensis, Chlamys farreri, Argopecten irradians, Pecten maximus, Salmo salar, Oncorhynchus mykiss, Salmo trutta, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, Oncorhynchus kisutch, Ictalurus punctatus, Scomber japonicus, Larimichthys polyactis, Theragra chalcogramma, Apostichopus japonicus, Litopenaeus vannamei, Dicentrarchus labrax, Trichiurus haumela, tiger prawns, and several Cyprinidae species. The present article provides the most recent references and important theoretical bases for the development of more effective traceability and authenticity detection technologies for the famous, special, high-quality, and new aquatic products, promoting the implementation of national policies for rural revitalization. In addition, the establishment of local and national level databases is strongly suggested for effective geographical origin traceability of aquatic products in China. |
