The Influence of Some Contaminants in Food Quality

Abstract

The concept of food quality has been following scientific and technological evolution. Currently, producers, users, consumers, as well as public authorities, have well defined their expectations regarding the quality requirements in the food sector. These projections are related to several parameters that are no longer seen only from a safety and nutritional point of view. Thus, the characteristics of food products must fulfill criteria that embrace their origin, esthetics, convenience, functionality, ethics, organoleptic and must result in benefit. The needs of consumers increasingly reflect public interests, which are supervised by public authorities that hold technical and scientific information that allows them to advocate normative regulations regarding defects, adulteration, and fraud, increasing awareness in the food quality field. Since food quality and safety are two increasingly interconnected domains, the different EU legislation and regulations impose procedures for the determination of contaminants. In this chapter, we will only cover three main topics, namely heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and mycotoxins.