Food and Beverage Analysis

A fully automated quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe (QuEChERS) extraction and extract clean-up method is described for analysis of organophosphate pesticides in orange juice. This method uses GC–MS and LC–MS along with an industry standard robotic x,y,z-sampling system.

This symposium looks at various methods used to detect PFAS in foods, cosmetics, packaging, and commercial products.

An overview of the analytical approaches proposed, from sample preparation to the final chromatographic determination, for the reliable risk assessment of mineral oil hydrocarbon (MOH) contaminants in food. The analysis of these contaminants in food is a challenging task and requires a comprehensive approach to tackle the cumbersome issues related to their determination.

LCGC is seeking contributed manuscripts for an April 2021 supplement on food and beverage analysis.

An increasing range of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) has been found migrating from food contact material into food. This article establishes an integrated analytical approach combining HPLC–MS/MS and GC–MS/MS to detect 36 such PFAS.

High-capacity sorptive extraction combined with thermal desorption–gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (TD–GC–MS) can improve on traditional methods for the analysis of VOCs and other trace analytes that contribute to the aroma, flavor, and safety of food products.

This study demonstrates how the technique can improve on traditional methods in the analysis of VOCs that contribute to the aroma and flavour of a breakfast cereal and in identifying other compounds of interest, such as food additives, contaminants, and potentially toxic compounds at trace levels.

In Chinese herbal medicine (CHM), traditionally, Hedyotis diffusa and Scutellaria barbata are cooked together and given to patients as tea. It is hypothesized that the interaction of metabolites from both herbs during cooking, improves the medical effect. This hypothesis was tested by preparing two tea variants which were then analyzed using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled to ion-mobility mass spectrometry (IM-MS).

SPME Arrow offers higher adsorption capacity and higher mechanical robustness than traditional solid-phase microextraction (SPME). Traditional SPME also has a small linearity range. In this article, an SPME Arrow fibre and classical SPME fibre were tested for the analysis of flavour profiles for different types of beverages.

Sulphite is a preservative added to a vast range of foods and beverages to prevent browning or oxidation. Some individuals are sensitive to sulphite additives and may experience a range of allergic reactions. Therefore, both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Union (EU) laws require that the presence of sulphites be declared on food labels when the concentration exceeds 10 mg/L. Several analytical methods exist to measure sulphite in food and beverages, however, they suffer from repeatability issues, and can be quite cumbersome to perform. A patent has been filed for an innovative, fast, and accurate ion chromatographic (IC) method based on direct current (DC) mode electrochemical detection. This article explains more.

Organosulphur compounds are important substances in the food industry because they can contribute to the flavour impression of a product. The human olfactory system’s sensitivity to sulphur leads to low flavour threshold values, making the analysis of these substances a challenging task. Gas chromatography (GC) with sulphur chemiluminescence detection (SCD) is a highly sensitive and selective technique for the analysis of sulphur compounds in various matrices. Using a range of different beers as an example, an approach is presented to reliably qualify and quantify sulphur components in beverages using headspace sampling and GC–SCD.

Jim Garvey of the Pesticide Control Laboratory in Ireland discusses the development of pesticide analysis methods with high-resolution accurate mass MS.

In food analysis, many different biological matrices are investigated containing numerous compounds that can interfere with liquid chromatographyÐmass spectrometry (LC–MS) analysis. To overcome the challenges that arise with these highly complex matrices, the additional separation of analytes and matrix compounds complementing chromatographic separation is becoming more significant. In this article, the potential of IM-MS to increase selectivity and for additional identity confirmation is investigated. An extensive evaluation of IM-MS instruments was performed on a broad test set of food safety contaminants. The tested IM-MS platforms were DMS, TWIMS, low field DTIMS, and TIMS. CCS data were determined using the different instruments, and the ability to separate isomers and compounds of interest from sample matrix in the IM dimension was explored.

This article describes open access sofware for the modelling and prediction of retention times in gas and liquid chromatography. This software provides useful results for food analysis.

This study assesses whether two commonly used plastic packaging materials are safe for use using liquid chromatography (LC) with high-resolution acccurate mass spectrometry (HRAMS) and data‑independent acquisition (DIA).

LCGC Europe interviewed Stefan van Leeuwen from Wageningen Food Safety Research (WFSR), in Wageningen, The Netherlands, on his novel multi-analyte approach to investigate bisphenol A (BPA), bisphenol A diglycidyl ether (BADGE), and their analogues using liquid chromatography–electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC–ESI-MS/MS).

Carlos Sales and Joaquin Beltrán from The Research Institute for Pesticides and Water at the University Jaume I, in Castellón, Spain, discuss a novel untargeted gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) method, incorporating dynamic headspace (DHS) with thermal desorption and a novel deconvolution approach, to classify olive oil.

Heatwaves are significantly affecting the consistency and quality of wine production. The Column spoke to Julia C. Gouot from the National Wine and Grape Industry Centre in Australia about the importance of chromatography to understand the effects of temperature change on grape physiology and composition.

The analysis of per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) in food samples, along with an optional additional solid-phase extraction (SPE) clean-up for even more sensitive liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS), is demonstrated in this article.

In this study, chemicals extracted from a food packaging plastic film with a series of organic solvents were tentatively identified with comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography coupled to time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC×GC–TOF–MS). A total of 91 compounds were tentatively identified in the film extracts, based on high mass spectral matching with the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) mass spectral (MS) library.

This method showed excellent precision and accuracy for the 12 FDA regulated mycotoxins that were evaluated during a validation study that covered a variety of matrices.

Chemical fingerprinting can provide evidence for quality differences resulting from botanical and geographical origins of primary food ingredients, post-harvest practices, production processes (such as traditional versus industrial processes), and the shelf-life evolution of finished products. This article discusses the strategic role and potential of comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC×GC) combined with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOF-MS) and pattern recognition using template matching for data processing to unravel the quality traits of high-quality food products. Practical examples dealing with high-quality cocoa and extra-virgin olive oil are described.

Chemical fingerprinting can provide evidence for quality differences resulting from botanical and geographical origins of primary food ingredients, post-harvest practices, production processes (such as traditional versus industrial processes), and the shelf-life evolution of finished products. This article discusses the strategic role and potential of comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC×GC) combined with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOF-MS) and pattern recognition using template matching for data processing to unravel the quality traits of high-quality food products. Practical examples dealing with high-quality cocoa and extra-virgin olive oil are described.

In the early days of dioxin analysis, applied methods were laboratory- and time-consuming. Only GC–HRMS, which is complicated, was used. Nowadays, GC–MS/MS is suitable for control proposes. Using GC–MS/MS means that solvent consumption for sample preparation can be reduced by a factor of 10 and the purity of the obtained fraction can be enhanced, indicating that GC–MS/MS is appropriate for dioxin analysis.

Ten years since its official definition, foodomics continues to expand the scientific knowledge of food and nutrition while resolving many analytical challenges along the way. LCGC Europe spoke to Alejandro Cifuentes from the Institute of Food Science Research, in Madrid, Spain, about his current foodomics research projects, the overall state of the field, and the future of foodomics.

Traditional sample preparation method development can often be laborious and costly. Understanding the underlying concepts of the technique can help food and environmental laboratories develop methods in notoriously complex matrices, faster, more efficiently, and provide better chromatography. With the presence of many unique matrices and analytes, methods such as QuEChERS, supported liquid extraction (SLE), or solid-phase extraction (SPE) provide the necessary adaptability for many types of extractions. With customizable methods to work with unique matrices and with the addition of automation, extractions can be improved to save time and provide consistent recoveries.

This method showed excellent precision and accuracy for the 12 FDA regulated mycotoxins that were evaluated during a validation study that covered a variety of matrices.

Pickering Laboratories developed an analytical method to comply with all the chromatographic requirements of Commission Regulation (EC) No 152-2009.

When analytical chemists apply green chemistry approaches, which seek to minimize negative environmental effects, an important area of focus is reducing the consumption of toxic solvents, such as those used in extraction steps in sample preparation. Developing and testing greener extraction processes for food analysis is a major focus of Elena Ibáñez, a research professor at the Institute of Food Science Research (CIAL-CSIC) in Madrid, Spain.

Analytical separation techniques based on the differential migration velocities of analytes under the action of an electric field are gaining increasing acceptance for the analysis of phenolic compounds in edible and medicinal plants and in plant-derived food products. In Part 2 of this review article the authors discuss the fundamental principles and practical aspects of electromigration techniques, including capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE), micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC), and capillary electrochromatography (CEC). The development of two-dimensional systems, performed by coupling either liquid chromatography (LC) with an electromigration technique or two electromigration techniques, operated under different separation mechanisms, is also discussed.