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What are the scientific challenges in moving from targeted to non-targeted methods for food fraud testing and how can they be addressed? – Spectroscopy case study

Lookup NU author(s): Dr James DonarskiORCiD

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND).

Abstract

© 2018Background: The authenticity of foodstuffs and associated fraud has become an important area. It is estimated that global food fraud costs approximately $US49b annually. In relation to testing for this malpractice, analytical technologies exist to detect fraud but are usually expensive and lab based. However, recently there has been a move towards non-targeted methods as means for detecting food fraud but the question arises if these techniques will ever be accepted as routine. Scope and approach: In this opinion paper, many aspects relating to the role of non-targeted spectroscopy based methods for food fraud detection are considered: (i) a review of the current non-targeted spectroscopic methods to include the general differences with targeted techniques; (ii) overview of in-house validation procedures including samples, data processing and chemometric techniques with a view to recommending a harmonized procedure; (iii) quality assessments including QC samples, ring trials and reference materials; (iv) use of “big data” including recording, validation, sharing and joint usage of databases. Key findings and conclusions: In order to keep pace with those who perpetrate food fraud there is clearly a need for robust and reliable non-targeted methods that are available to many stakeholders. Key challenges faced by the research and routine testing communities include: a lack of guidelines and legislation governing both the development and validation of non-targeted methodologies, no common definition of terms, difficulty in obtaining authentic samples with full traceability for model building; the lack of a single chemometric modelling software that offers all the algorithms required by developers.

Publication metadata

Author(s): McGrath TF, Haughey SA, Patterson J, Fauhl-Hassek C, Donarski J, Alewijn M, van Ruth S, Elliott CT

Publication type: Review

Publication status: Published

Journal: Trends in Food Science and Technology

Year: 2018

Volume: 76

Pages: 38-55

Print publication date: 01/06/2018

Online publication date: 04/04/2018

Acceptance date: 01/04/2018

ISSN (print): 0924-2244

ISSN (electronic): 1879-3053

Publisher: Elsevier Ltd

URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tifs.2018.04.001

DOI: 10.1016/j.tifs.2018.04.001

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