Following cocoa beans to chocolate : The search for intrinsic characteristics

The assessment of cocoa’s natural characteristics can be used to link cocoa beans and chocolate. Establishing a link between the raw material and the finished product is complicated not only because of complex characteristics of the supply chain but also because of the technology involved in the production and the composition of the ingredients. One may wonder why a link between raw material and the finished product is relevant. Nowadays, more and more attention is given to sustainability, pushing the cocoa manufacturers to take into account social, economic and environmental issues while producing. As a consequence, the demand in cocoa-importing countries for certified sustainable cocoa has increased considerably and is expected to show continuous growth over the next years. Moreover, more consumers have become increasingly aware of the existence of different cocoa varieties and their origins, and the market of specialty chocolates such as chocolates with single-origin bean, organic and fair-trade chocolate has largely grown in the last decades. The aforementioned trends in the chocolate sector and the growing concerns regarding food quality and safety led to a growing effort in the implementation of traceability systems. This trend has facilitated the need to verify and guarantee the origin of the cocoa beans along with the cocoa-chocolate supply chain and to establish a link between raw material and the finished product.For these reasons, the main objective of this thesis is to discover cocoa beans’ traits in terms of the botanical and geographical origin carried along the cocoa–chocolate supply chain. Compositional characteristics of botanical and geographical origin of cocoa beans after fermentation and drying, after manufacturing chocolate and during chocolate consumption were analysed. This information can be used to derive a link between raw material and the finished product, which in turn can be used to support traceability systems.To investigate the cocoa-chocolate botanical and geographical origin information, markers related to intrinsic properties were used: volatile and non-volatile characteristics. The latter include small non-volatile compounds, elemental composition, isotope ratios and hyperspectral profiles. The reflectance of the cocoa beans origin along the supply chain is investigated starting from the consumer perspective with the analysis of the nosespace (NS) profile of consumers eating chocolates manufactured from beans of different origins. Moving back along the supply chain, the possibility to extract botanical and geographical traits from both volatile and non-volatile profiles is further tested in chocolates available in the supermarket. To extract more information cocoa beans and corresponding chocolates to extract raw material markers in a finished product analysing their volatile, elemental and isotopic compositional traits. Finally, the raw material analysis completes the assessment of cocoa beans origin traits along the supply chain.Regarding the botanical traits carried along the supply chain, the volatile intrinsic characteristic showed the potential to track and trace raw material origin along the entire supply chain. It was possible to identify typical volatile compounds of the raw material in chocolate bar and chocolate during chocolate consumption. VOCs were found to be the most robust markers that were carried from cocoa beans to consumer products, revealing a constant shift/change between the raw materials and the finished products. Potential markers (i.e. acetic acid) were detected to reveal botanical traits from raw material to chocolate to chocolate consumption. However, in general, it was difficult to identify specific individual markers carried along the supply chain highlighting the fact that the botanical traits are more related to a general volatile pattern. The same is valid for the small non-volatile compounds analysed in chocolate. Interestingly, when analysing the non-volatile compositional traits, the botanical trend explained the samples overlapping according to the geographical origin. This occurred despite the impact of the processing step or the ingredient added on the origin expression. The brand influence was confirmed also when the elemental and stable isotope fingerprints of cocoa beans and chocolates were compared. Stable isotope signatures appear less sufficient for tracing the characteristics of cocoa in chocolate products without previously estimating the isotope signature of all the ingredients reducing the possibility to use them as origin markers. Our results support the botanical traits’ influence as highlighted for the volatile and non-volatile profiles of chocolate and the volatile NS profile of chocolate during consumption and it indicates that intrinsic features of the beans are retained after processing and even during consumption.Regarding the geographical origin traits carried along the supply chain, volatile compounds reflected the geographical trait from cocoa beans to consumers. Within the non-volatile compositional traits Cr, Fe and Cd appeared to be distinct geographical markers although they are susceptible to environmental contamination. However, along the supply chain, the geographical traits were hidden by other factors. During chocolate consumption, geographical discrimination was possible only within each botanical group. In chocolate, the geographical information was evidently contained by the volatile compounds. However, we highlighted an interference with botanical and brand traits. This was particularly clear when analysing the small non-volatile compounds. Only when reducing the influence of the brands, it becomes clear that the samples are spread according to the three origins. Regarding the raw material, the impact of the geographical origin on the volatile and hyperspectral profile of cocoa beans is influenced by the variability related to differences in fermentation and drying within a country and between countries. Despite these interferences, a similar trend both in cocoa beans and in chocolates is visible for certain compounds, making them usable as cocoa-chocolate linking markers.The evidence from this study suggests that volatile and non-volatile compositional traits of cocoa and cocoa products can be used to verify and/or follow origin traits along the supply chain and link raw material and the finished product. However, more research is needed on how to reduce botanical and geographical interaction and improve the product characterisation along the supply chain. Within the compositional traits that were measured, the volatile profile is the most suitable for gathering information at the beginning of the production and at different stages in the supply chain