Quality and safety of food product – Current assessment, issues, and metabolomics as a way forward

Abstract

Metabolomics, as one of the omics areas, has emerged as a powerful platform for characterising metabolites (i.e. having a molecular weight below 1,000 Da) present in biological fluids, matrices, and organisms. In this review, the applications of metabolomics in food analyses and recent advancements in the combinations of existing metabolomics technologies with other approaches are discussed. Although the applications of metabolomics in assessing the safety and quality of foods are wide-ranging and relatively extensively discussed, there is a paucity of information regarding the evaluation of foods in terms of food adulteration by metabolome profiles. More efforts are still needed before the envisioned applications of metabolomics can be realised in this area. To this end, future studies to address the relevant current gaps need to be further explored.

Keywords

• Food quality
• Food safety
• Metabolomics
• Fingerprinting
• Adulteration
• Authentication