Advances of Spectrometric Techniques in Food Analysis and Food Authentication Implemented with Chemometrics

Abstract

Given the continuous consumer demand for products of high quality and specific origin, there is a great tendency for the application of multiple instrumental techniques for the complete characterization of foodstuffs or related natural products. Spectrometric techniques usually offer a full and rapid screenshot of products’ composition and properties by the determination of specific bio-molecules such as sugars, minerals, polyphenols, volatile compounds, amino acids, organic acids, etc. The present special issue aimed firstly to enhance the advances of the application of spectrometric techniques such as gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS), inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), Raman spectroscopy, or any other spectrometric technique, in the analysis of foodstuffs such as meat, milk, cheese, potatoes, vegetables, fruits/fruit juices, honey, olive oil, chocolate, and other natural products. An additional goal was to fill the gap between food composition/food properties/natural products properties and food/natural products authenticity, using supervised and non-supervised chemometrics. Of the 18 submitted articles, nine were eventually published, providing new information to the field.