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.

High-Throughput Flow Injection Analysis–Mass Spectrometry (FIA-MS) Fingerprinting for the Authentication of Tea Application to the Detection of Teas Adulterated with Chicory

“…Nowadays, one of the main concerns worldwide is the growth of food fraud, which can be considered as an intentional substitution, addition, or alteration of food products through false claims about the product in order to reduce its price, increase its volume, and, above all, obtain illegal economic benefits [ 12 , 13 ]. Further, these fraudulent practices can suppose a serious risk to public health due to the possible presence of undeclared toxic substances or allergenic compounds.…”

Use of MALDI-TOF MS technology to evaluate adulteration of small ruminant milk with raw bovine milk

“…In recent years, several methods based on MALDI-TOF have been developed that assess the authenticity of milk and dairy products. The increasing use of MALDI-TOF MS to detect adulteration is because it offers some advantages over other analytical techniques as fast generate spectra, profiles, or fingerprints with fast and easy sample preparation or no sample preparation, absence of analyte purification, chemical modification, or derivatization (Cozzolino and De Giulio, 2011;Zambonin, 2021). One of the most common frauds is still mixing cheaper and available milk, such as bovine milk, with more expensive and seasonally produced milk, such as small ruminants' milk.…”

“…From these analytical methods, MALDI-TOF MS also found application as a powerful and cost-effective tool for detecting the food adulteration due to rapid and simple preparation of sample, ease of use, fast data collection, high sensitivity, tolerance to contaminants, and the ability to detect various components in highly complex mixtures (Roncada et al, 2012;Aiello et al, 2020;Zambonin, 2021). The potential of MALDI-TOF MS for the detection of small ruminants' milk adulteration was confirmed by Nicolaou et al (2011).…”

Real-Time Profiling and Distinction of Lipids from Different Mammalian Milks Using Rapid Evaporative Ionization Mass Spectrometry Combined with Chemometric Analysis

“…Different analytical techniques, such as near-infrared spectroscopy and real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), have been used to recognize and identify the origins of different mammalian milks. − With the development of lipidomics, milk lipids are often used as an indicator for the detection of dairy food fraudulence, considering their abundance in milk. Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, gas chromatography, liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry are the frequently used lipidomic methods. − Besides, ambient ionization mass spectrometry, especially rapid evaporative ionization mass spectrometry (REIMS), circumvents the limitations of chromatographic separation methods. Featuring real-time, in situ, and high-throughput analysis with almost no sample pretreatment, this method has been widely employed in food traceability and food fraud identification, such as being used to distinguish between cod and oilfish, identify tuna species, and detect authenticity and adulteration of krill phospholipids with soybean phospholipids, etc. − However, REIMS has rarely been used in the classification and identification of milk so far.…”