Food scandals and climate change – challenges for food analysis
What is food analysis?
Food scandals, food fraud, the consequences of climate change—thanks to food analysis, ingredients can be examined in detail and abuses can be uncovered.A variety of methods are capable of detecting a wide range of substances in food. The most common areas of application include:
- herbicides, insecticides or pesticides
- banned dyes
- mineral oil residues
- heavy metals
- illicit and toxic substances
- allergens
- genetically modified organisms
- pathogens
At analytica 2024, you will get to know the latest developments and instrument systems from renowned manufacturers as well as the current legal framework for food analysis up close.
How are food analysis methods used?
Analytical systems and instrument developments are indispensable for solving food scandals such as the horsemeat scandal or the swindle with organic products.
But also in the areas of food safety and consumer protection, up-to-date detection and origin analyses or quality assurance systems are only possible with state-of-the-art analytical technology and novel molecular biological methods.
At analytica, you can learn more about the latest trends and methods in food analysis at the "Food Analysis" industry meeting point, in numerous expert presentations and at the booths of innovative companies.
Get a complete market overview in food analysis
The industry’s most renowned companies will be present at the analytica, for example:
You can find all the leading manufacturers and startups focusing on food analysis which participate in analytica 2024 in our exibition directory.
Food analysis at analytica—these topics await you
Experience the latest products, new processes and methods from renowned market leaders and innovative newcomers from all over the world. The range of topics relating to food processing is enormously broad:
- Food analysis in the laboratory - molds and mycotoxins - minerals and vitamins
- Sampling, sample preparation and instrumental analysis - Non-target methods - Probiotics and food supplements
- Authenticity - Food hygiene - Cosmetics
- Food Fraud - Drinking Water Analysis - Pharmaceutical Chemistry
- Food monitoring - Food technology - Consumer goods
- Molecular biological methods - Food packaging, packaging and substance migration
- Risk assessment
- Bioanalysis
- Nutrition - Quality assurance
- Microbiological test methods - Additives - Digitalization and Laboratory 4.0
Food analysis in the interest of consumer protection
Declared food claims must be clearly verifiable. Falsifications are not only criminal, they also harbor a risk potential for allergy sufferers and people who are on a special diet.
Innovative methods of food analysis such as omics technologies provide a high-resolution image of the sample with maximum information content and thus contribute significantly to increasing food safety.
Find out about the latest analytical methods at the world's leading trade fair analytica and exchange ideas with experts and users.
Focus on food fraud: Expose adulterated food
Food fraud is becoming an ever more important topic: the adulteration of food, such as substituting and mixing expensive ingredients with cheaper ones, such as syrup and fat, dilutions of oils and wines or incorrectly specified varieties and the illegal addition of flavouring, keep happening in many different areas.
These adulterations confront food analysis and food control with huge challenges. Such food adulterations can only be detected, and thus, the fraud behind them, if high-performance methods for the authentification of food and the identification of ingredients are available. Visit analytica to find out about the latest state of affairs and the most important developments in these fields.
Whether it is about possibilities to verify the authenticity of food, or analytical methods to identify insecticides, herbicides and pesticides, illegal dyes, mineral oil residues, heavy metals and other illegal toxic substances, or allergens, genetically modified organisms or even pathogens—powerful food analysis provides reliable test results. Obtain information on the latest developments and equipment systems from notable manufacturers as well as the current legal requirements at analytica 2020.
Plant-based food: Investigation of metabolic changes in agricultural crops
Modern food chemistry also has the purpose of analyzing functional foods as well as prebiotics, probiotics and synbiotics or food supplements with a health-enhancing effect, and of identifying the active ingredients. New plant-based active substances, vegan and vegetarian food are gaining greater significance in this context. For testing plant-based foods and the reactions occurring in the foods, non-targeted analyses with high-resolution mass spectrometry are applied today. Come to the trade fair to see where the opportunities and the limits are.
The investigation of the metabolism of plant-based foods is an important application of non-target analytics and non-target screening. Metabolomics studies contribute to showing changes in the metabolic processes as a result of the climate changes. For crops in particular, such metabolic changes have enormous significance with respect to the ingredients and the associated effects on nutrition. So it is a must for you to get detailed information on this set of topics at the trade fair.
Focus on glyphosate: How to prove its application
For better crop growth and increased yield, herbicides and pesticides are still applied in large quantities in conventional agriculture. Glyphosate, which is to be banned in the future, is particularly controversial. The critical discussion of its carcinogenic effect and environmental hazards triggers a greater demand for effective methods to identify glyphosate. Foods and beverages on a plant and cereal basis are particularly highly contaminated with pesticides such as glyphosate.
The detection of glyphosate has become possible with state-of-the-art specific analytical methods. The total value-added chain of the analysis—from preparing the samples to LC-MS/MS analysis and compliant evaluation—allows the direct detection of glyphosate in foods. In this field, it is always decisive to transfer highly complex laboratory methods to robust routine conditions. Apart from the question about the origin of raw materials and foods, glyphosate analysis is of special significance for the production and analysis of baby and organic food. So this is a very wide field, which you should not miss, when you visit the trade fair.