Food Metabolomics

Metabolomics is all about the study of small molecules and it could be applied to the food industry to investigate and understand more about food and plants, its safety, quality, nutrition and more. Some notable applications include its use to (1) fully characterize food, (2) identify adulterants, contaminants and spoilage, (3) understand how growing conditions and location affect the quality of produce, and (4) find out how processing and transport in the supply chain will change food. Food metabolomics can be achieved using targeted and untargeted approaches with analytical techniques such as Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS and GC-MS/MS).