High-performance liquid chromatographic determination of glycoalkaloids in potatoes from conventional, integrated, and organic crop systems

During the last decade organic agro-food products, including potatoes, have been progressively introduced in the Portuguese consumer market. Nevertheless, the quality of these products with regards to chemical safety still requires the implementation of monitoring programmes. In this communication we compare the glycoalkaloid content in varieties Sante and Raja of marketed Portuguese potatoes from conventional, integrated, and organic crop systems, using HPLC. In Sante tubers, the corresponding total amount of (X-solanine and alpha-chaconine was respectively 37.3, 44.2, and 38.4 mg/kg fresh weight, whereas for Raja a decreasing concentration on the total glycoalkaloid content was observed from conventional (79.5 mg/kg) to integrated (59.6 mg/kg) and organic tubers (44.6 mg/kg). (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.