Recent advances in food analysis

Abstract

Analytical and bioanalytical chemistry related to the food chain is a rapidly growing research area for many scientists in academia and industry. Major drivers behind this are, on the one hand, the development of high-quality “added-value” foods and, on the other hand, the recurrent food and feed incidents which, because of globalization, are not expected to decline. To deal with the increasing number of sample matrices and contaminants of interest, fast and accurate analytical methods are needed. Manufacturers of instruments and rapid screening assays have recognized this potential and nowadays specifically address this application area. This special issue on Recent Advances in Food Analysis provides the reader with a good overview of the current status and exciting developments in this field. The analytical tools used in food analysis can be classified in a four-dimensional matrix of information content versus analysis time versus analyte bioactivity and analyte spatial distribution. In the area of rapid methods, for example dipsticks and immunological planar and bead suspension biosensing arrays, the trend is toward increased information content through multiplexing. In instrumental food analysis the trend is toward multi-analyte analysis—hundreds of pesticides and biotoxins in foods—by use of liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC–MS) operated in the multiple reaction monitoring or full-scan accurate mass mode, and still in a relatively short analysis time, because of recent developments in generic sample preparation and ultra-high performance separations using <2 μm LC stationary phase particles. The overwhelming amount of data from full-scan accurate-mass techniques requires urgent attention to the relevance of the data obtained. Currently two approaches can be distinguished, the development of sophisticated targeted and untargeted software tools for data reduction, alignment, searches, and multivariate comparison, and parallel bioactivity detection in which a bioactivity chromatogram pinpoints relevant areas in the reconstructed LC–MS chromatogram. So far, the spatial distribution of food components and contaminants has not been studied in much depth. However, ambient mass spectrometry techniques, for example direct analysis in real time (DART), are emerging and have the potential for future 2D surface imaging analysis, or even to yield 3D pictures after slicing of food products. Nanoparticles are an entirely new challenge in food analysis. Apart from chemical identification and quantification, size distribution and surface-charge are also expected to be relevant. Maintaining sample integrity for nanoparticle traces during sample preparation from food matrices is an unprecedented challenge. Published in the special paper collection Recent Advances in Food Analysis with guest editors J. Hajslova, R. Krska, M. W. F. Nielen.