Importance of food forensics and its mandatory implications in health safety and compliance

Abstract

Food forensics is crucial due to the risk of foodborne illnesses caused by bacteria, toxins, pesticides, and other pollutants. Traditional detection techniques like microscopy, nucleic acid analysis, and immunoassays are used, but array-based sensing approaches are gaining popularity due to their reliability and accuracy. Advances in multivariate analytical techniques and machine learning-based methodologies allow for rapid and reliable food testing. Food forensics have a significant role in detecting and identifying food pollutants, ensuring the safety of the global food supply. Adulteration, the intentional contamination of food with substandard or inexpensive chemicals, can lead to long-term poisoning, illnesses, and even deaths. Accreditation is essential for food forensics, which involves rigorous auditing by internationally registered bodies to ensure quality compliance. The study explored food forensics, a scientific procedure identifying authentic and counterfeit food items through chemical analysis. It highlighted the literature concerned about the risk of adulteration in locally sourced products and how mass spectrometry enhances reliability, information, and analysis compared to conventional methods.