Advances in Direct Mass Spectrometry Techniques Coupled with Chemometric Modelling for the Rapid Detection of Food Fraud

Monitoring for Food Adulteration (Food Fraud)
Oral Presentation

Prepared by K. Rosnack1, S. Stead2, R. Jandova2, D. Douce2, C. Black3, L. Vanhaecke4, K. Organtini1
1 - Waters Corp, 34 Maple St, Milford, Massachusetts, 01757, United States
2 - Waters Corporation, Stamford Avenue, Altrincham Road, Wilmslow, SK9 4AX, United Kingdom
3 - Queen's University Belfast, Institute for Global Food Security, Advanced ASSET Centre, Belfast, N. Ireland, BT7 1NN, United Kingdom
4 - Ghent University, Department of Veterinary Public Health & Food Safety, Salisburylaan 133, Merelbeke, B-9820, Belgium


Contact Information: [email protected]; 508-482-4639


ABSTRACT

Mass spectrometry has traditionally been one of the ‘last resorts’ for food quality and composition analysis. While gas chromatography-MS (GC-MS), GC isotope ratio-MS (GC IR-MS), and liquid chromatography-MS (LC-MS) are widely used for food and agricultural product analysis, MS methods (including these) are generally considered to be slow, expensive and not amenable for routine application, mostly due to laborious sample preparation procedures. The advent of ambient ionization mass spectrometric methods remove most of the constraints associated with sample preparation and opened new opportunities for point-of-control monitoring.
Since ambient ionization MS (AIMS) methods require minimal or no sample preparation, the use of internal standards (or even external calibrators) is often impossible, resulting in the lack of quantitative information provided by these methods. Nevertheless, the spectral profiles are highly characteristic of the species, variety, origin, age, etc. of the sample, which makes these approaches excellent for rapid profiling analysis. In these cases, the MS spectral information is used as a ‘fingerprint’ for the identification of critical attributes associated with both the genetic origin and environmental exposure of the sample.
Here we demonstrate the utility of different ambient ionisation techniques including Rapid Evaporative Ionisation Mass Spectrometry (REIMS); Atmospheric Solids Analysis Probe (ASAP) and Direct Analysis in Real Time (DART) coupled to mass spectrometric detection and chemometric modelling for the detection of food fraud, authenticity and quality testing.