Mass Spectrometer and Techniques

**3**

**Chapter 1**

**Abstract**

The Role of Liquid

and Authenticity

tant aspects in the food authenticity field.

packaging, which sometimes are contaminants.

high resolution mass spectrometry

**1. Introduction**

Chromatography-Mass

Spectrometry in Food Integrity

Liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (LC-MS), tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), and high resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS) today are among the most common techniques to guarantee food integrity and authenticity. Targeted approaches, where a family of characteristic bioactive substances in the analyzed food products are monitored, are a common practice to ensure food authenticity regarding the production region since bioactive substances content and distribution in food depend on multiple parameters such as climate conditions, water resources, agrochemical practices, etc. On the other hand, non-targeted approaches, such as metabolomic fingerprinting, are a common practice where a huge number of spectral detected variables in the analyzed foods are monitored. In both approaches, characteristic patterns are searched among the analyzed food products by means of statistical chemometric methods to address food characterization, classification, and authentication. In the present chapter, the role of LC-MS in combination with chemometrics to guarantee food integrity and authenticity will be discussed. Coverage of all kinds of applications is beyond the scope of the present contribution, so we will focus on the most relevant applications published in the last years by addressing the most interesting examples and impor-

*Guillem Campmajó, Nerea Núñez and Oscar Núñez*

**Keywords:** food authenticity, liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry,

Food products are very complex mixtures constituted by a great variability of naturally occurring compounds such as lipids, carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, organic acids, and volatile organic compounds, among others. Moreover, they can also contain many other substances coming from agrochemical treatments and technological processes, or even migrating from the materials employed in food

Food manufacturers, researchers, and society in general are also becoming very interested in the quality of food products, not only from the nutritional point of view but also in relation to food safety issues or regarding the presence of bioactive
