Vitamin E used as an indicator for adulterated Brazilian coffee.

September 4, 2007 - Coffee has always suffered from adulteration problems since the beginning of the coffee trade. Now reseachers in Illinois are measuring residual vitamin E concentrations in coffee as a way to identify adulterated Brazilian coffee blends. Since most adulterations usually include the addition of "fillers" such as grain, cereal, coffee twigs and corn - their identification is becoming more difficult. Luckily, roasted corn samples contain have high concentrations of vitamin E, making it a prime "fingerprint" for adulteration. In laboratory tests scientist found that one brand of Brazilian coffee contained almost 9 percent corn.

Although preliminary, scientists believe the method is promising. Paper to be presented in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, August 8, 2007, "Gamma-Tocopherol as a Marker of Brazilian Coffee (Coffea arabica L.) Adulteration by Corn".