MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometry Applications for Food Fraud Detection

Abstract

Chemical analysis of food products relating to the detection of the most common frauds is a complex task due to the complexity of the matrices and the unknown nature of most processes. Moreover, frauds are becoming more and more sophisticated, making the development of reliable, rapid, cost-effective new analytical methods for food control even more pressing. Over the years, MALDI-TOF MS has demonstrated the potential to meet this need, also due to a series of undeniable intrinsic advantages including ease of use, fast data collection, and capability to obtain valuable information even from complex samples subjected to simple pre-treatment procedures. These features have been conveniently exploited in the field of food frauds in several matrices, including milk and dairy products, oils, fish and seafood, meat, fruit, vegetables, and a few other categories. The present review provides a comprehensive overview of the existing MALDI-based applications for food quality assessment and detection of adulterations.