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The March 2020 Foods Journal has a special issue on “Food Authentication: Techniques, Trends and Emerging Approaches” consisting of  12 articles (11 original research articles and 1 review), which focus on the development and application of analytical techniques and emerging approaches in food authentication. The research papers cover the authentication of foods with high commercial value, such as olive oil, Iberian ham or fruits, among others. The review examines the potential of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) as a valuable technique to determine small metabolites in food tissue sections without requiring purification, extraction, separation or labelling. It can be used not only to identify the composition of foods, but also to investigate among other applications, their geographical origin for improved traceability, food safety and breed enhancement. 

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Gas chromatography techniques are routinely used to detect key lipids (e.g., triacylglycerols) to assess milk origins and to detect foreign milks in bovine milk. However, such approach requires several sample preparation steps and a dedicated laboratory environment, precluding a high throughput process. In order to simplify sample preparation and speed of analysis, UK researchers developed a novel and simple method without organic solvent extractions for the detection of bovine and non-dairy milks based on lipids fingerprint by routine MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. The method was tested using mixtures of bovine with either soya or coconut milks in the range of 0-100% additions. Marker ions specific to each type of milk permitted a reproducible and cost effective approach to milk analysis, which is suitable to qualitatively typify milks and potentially their adulteration.

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