Geographical identification of Oryza sativa 'MR 220CL' from Peninsular Malaysia using elemental and isotopic profiling

Indication of rice geographical origin is important in preventing food fraud issues and meets the consumers’ expectation for acquiring high quality food. This study examined the elemental and stable isotope compositions of rice samples from MR 220CL cultivar in order to distinguish the geographical origin. A total of 53 rice samples from Kedah (n = 27), Selangor (n = 20) and Langkawi (n = 6) were analyzed for elemental and stable isotope compositions. The instrumental neutron activation analysis was applied to determine the elemental concentrations of aluminum (Al), arsenic (As), bromine (Br), chlorine (Cl), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), manganese (Mn), sodium (Na), rubidium (Rb) and zinc (Zn) whilst the stable isotopes of δ13Carbon (δ13C) and δ15Nitrogen (δ15N) were analyzed using isotope ratio mass spectrometry. The results showed that the concentrations of Al, As, Br, Cl, K, Mg, Na, Rb, Zn and isotopic values of δ13C and δ15N of the rice samples were significantly different (p