**2.2 Mixed food**

A notorious big scandal that hit Europe in 2013 related to food adulteration was the breach of true labeling due to the fraud on the beef sale that has been substituted with horsemeat [36]. The food fraud also occurred in some other part of the world when pharmaceutical preparations and chocolate were suspected to contain traces of pork in 2013 and 2014 in Malaysia [37]. In other countries, like India, it is not uncommon to sell buffalo meat adulterated with other animal meats due to financial issue and availability [38]. Such adulterated meats are very difficult to identify especially when such meats are already in the processed form. The practice of food fraud also occurs on dairy products, for example, butter is mixed with cheaper fats, such as mutton fats, chicken, and pig fats to get higher profits [39]. With these many occurrences of food adulterations around the world, ability to authenticate pure and mixed food has become a crucial aim for everybody.

### **2.3 Food safety and quality**

Food adulteration practices not only destroy consumer trust and confidence in the products and the company reputation but also jeopardize the safety and quality of food consumed. The development of food authentication technique is necessary in food control because of the need of certain compliance in food process and the label to ensure customer confidence and trust to the food product [35, 40]. The authentication technique will also validate the food origin that includes its geographical, gene, and species source, confirming their production processes and their processing techniques [41–43].

The need for food authentication is the result from customer concerns on the food nutrition and their health as well as an assurance of the process control and food quality purposes. Such authentication techniques will also confirm the existence of food adulteration, identify the origin of the food and its ingredients, and improve the food quality and safety for pure and future mixed food.

For this purpose, mass spectroscopy has been very critical in validating and improving food quality and making us caution with any industrial and agriculture chemical to prevent harming our health, disturbing the food supply, and damaging the ecosystem that we depend on for our sustainability. The scientific finding in the environmental, agricultural, and food sciences has been significant to more resourceful and healthier food, improving our quality of life and better living in the world population that is reaching 8 billion and beyond.
