Food analysis at analytica: news and trends for your laboratory

Food analysis tests and assesses the quality of food. Food manufacturers ensure the safety of their goods by inspecting incoming raw materials, undertaking quality assurance during production in compliance with the law, and carrying out quality controls of the finished products. Food laboratories and official inspectors investigate whether the applicable limits for pesticides, pharmaceutical residues, heavy metals, dioxins and other contaminants are observed and whether food safety is guaranteed.

Prohibited colorants and other additives, allergens such as gluten and genetically modified organisms are also detected by modern food analysis. Against the backdrop of climate change, the identification of mycotoxins and harmful microorganisms is also becoming increasingly important. Global warming and extreme rainfall are causing pest and mold infestations to increase. More and more mycotoxins, toxic metabolites and other toxic substances are ending up in food. Talk to renowned experts at analytica about powerful analytical methods that can detect not only common germs and contaminants, but also unknown metabolites, toxins and other harmful contaminants.

Food laboratories test food primarily to rule out health hazards and ensure that manufacturers comply with applicable laws. Using chemical, physical and bioanalytical methods, they also perform sensory analyses and verify the authenticity of foods. This is how they uncovered the horsemeat scandal, the organic produce scam, and other food frauds.

In order to track down professional food counterfeiters, laboratories must continually refine their detection capabilities and procedures, to make sure that undesirable contaminants, prohibited additives or allergens be clearly identified in the future. At analytica, you can find out how the food laboratory of tomorrow is using state-of-the-art analytical technologies to protect consumer health and uncover false declarations.

Food analysts use the full range of chemical, physical, microscopic, microbiological, molecular biological, and other bioanalytical methods. In addition to established detection methods, food analysis is increasingly relying on methods such as DNA fingerprinting and Omics techniques. Advances have also been made in classical methods such as chromatography, mass spectrometry and the many different spectroscopic methods. Focus is on miniaturization and automation in the lab.

The technique of sampling and sample preparation is also crucial for reliable analysis. analytica showcases the entire value chain of food analysis and the entire spectrum of methods for food analysis. Find out about all the trends and new developments in food analysis at the world's leading trade fair and the accompanying analytica conference.

Adulteration of food products, such as the addition of cheaper ingredients, is a criminal offense. Moreover, it poses a risk to the health of allergy sufferers and people who are dependent on a special diet. Consumers must be able to rely on the fact that the information on food packaging corresponds to the actual content. They must not be misled in their purchasing decisions.

Using state-of-the-art chemical-analytical, microscopic and bioanalytical testing methods, food laboratories test the safety of our food and thus make a crucial contribution to protecting consumers. Learn about the full range of powerful analytical methods and Omics technologies for food sample testing at analytica.

Food fraud is prohibited. However, official monitoring shows how widespread misrepresentation is. Sometimes the geographical origin mentioned on the label is not correct, sometimes organic goods come from conventional agriculture. Genetically modified organisms are also not always named correctly. Modern chemical-analytical and molecular-biological methods can be used to detect false declarations.

In addition, food laboratories detect the mixing-in of cheaper ingredients and other food adulteration. Diluted oils and wines, cheap sugar in honey and unauthorized additions of flavorings are an all too frequent occurrence. At analytica, you can find out which methods food laboratories use to track down this form of food fraud. Find out about the latest analytical methods for authenticating food and detecting prohibited ingredients at the world's leading trade fair.

In times of rising prices and supply chain problems, there is a growing risk of misrepresentation of food origin, making origin analysis increasingly important in the food laboratory. False information can be detected by methods such as isotope ratio mass spectrometry. The isotopic signature of common elements such as hydrogen, carbon and oxygen serves as a fingerprint that reveals the place of origin, additives and cultivation methods - whether organic or not. Find out about these and other methods used to determine the origin and authenticity of food at analytica.

One of the tasks of food chemistry and food analysis is to develop and analyze functional foods with health-promoting effects. This also includes the wide field of pre-, pro- and synbiotics as well as food supplements and their active ingredients. Omics technologies and non-target methods such as high-resolution mass spectrometry are increasingly being used for investigating these. They even decipher reactions that take place in the food itself, for example during preparation, as well as in our bodies.

Such processes also particularly come into their own for the discovery of new plant-based active ingredients and for the laboratory development of vegan or vegetarian meat alternatives. At analytica, you will learn how modern food analyses contribute to a healthy and sustainable diet.

Herbicides, insecticides and fungicides are applied in conventional agriculture to increase yields. Glyphosate is one of the most controversial pesticides. The discussion about its carcinogenic effects and hazards for the environment has triggered increased demand for effective detection methods for glyphosate. Glyphosate analysis is of particular importance in the production and testing of organic food and baby food.

analytica is a mine of information on the entire value chain of pesticide analysis, from sampling and sample preparation and analysis using chromatography and mass spectrometry, to automated evaluation. At analytica, learn how state-of-the-art analytical methods detect hundreds of pesticides simultaneously and deliver reliable results even in routine laboratories.

Microplastics are now found almost everywhere. The tiny plastic particles have already been detected in salt, mineral water and quite a few foods. They enter our food from packaging or are found in foods such as fish and seafood. Every week, we ingest microplastics the weight of a credit card. The tiny plastic particles in food can be detected with a combination of microscopy and spectroscopy. Raman spectroscopy is considered the method of choice. Learn about these and other food analysis techniques that detect microplastics in food, as well as in the environment and other samples, at analytica.

More powerful computers for controlling analytical instruments, accelerated data processing and ever greater storage capacities ensure greater efficiency in the laboratory. This benefits food inspectors in particular, as they often have to deliver results quickly, meaning there's no time to waste.

Thanks to digitalization and automation, food laboratories can test more samples in less time while increasing the quality of their analytical results. The inexorable advance of laboratory digitalization is made very apparent every two years at analytica. At the world's leading trade fair, exhibitors from all over the world will be presenting laboratory robots and digital tools for the laboratory of tomorrow. analytica's extensive supporting program with special events on digitalization will also bring you up to date.

Digitalization is increasingly making its way into the food laboratory. Robots and semi-automated systems are already taking a lot of work away from laboratory staff. Now, artificial intelligence is set to make the processes even more efficient. In the future AI could, for example, detect the microbiological quality of food and identify spoiled products. AI is also helpful in non-target analysis, as it can search databases worldwide for spectra and structures to decipher unknown substances.

Because of their widespread use, poor degradability in the environment and harmful effects on health, perfluorinated and polyfluorinated alkyl substances, or PFASs for short, are known as forever chemicals and the “poison of the century”. Because they repel oil and fat as well as water, they are in many food packages and thus end up in our food. More and more food analysis is dedicated to PFAS. The Drinking Water Ordinance has already defined limit values for some PFAS.

Food laboratories, for example, detect PFAS with a combination of chromatography and mass spectrometry. Other methods are also under development. Since there is still a sore lack of reliable detection methods for all PFAS, PFAS analysis is one of the major challenges in food analysis. Find out about the latest developments at analytica and learn how scientists, instrument manufacturers and users are tackling the issue.

Global warming and the accompanying extreme precipitation are accelerating food spoilage, which in turn means an increase in pest and mold infestation. To detect infestations of mycotoxins, microbial germs and other pests, food inspectors need methods that are both powerful and fast. At analytica, talk to renowned experts about high-resolution analytical methods that detect not only common germs and contaminants, but also unknown metabolites, toxins and other harmful contaminants.