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

Book excerpt: Given the continuous consumer demand for products of high quality and specific origin, there is a great tendency toward 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 a product’s composition and properties by the determination of specific biomolecules such as sugars, minerals, polyphenols, volatile compounds, amino acids, and organic acids. 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 product properties and food/natural product authenticity, using supervised and nonsupervised chemometrics.