Food Phenotyping: Recording and Processing of Non-Targeted Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry Data for Verifying Food Authenticity

This paper provides a comprehensive overview of food phenotyping using non-targeted liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) data for verifying food authenticity. The authors emphasize that metabolomics, which involves analyzing the totality of metabolites in a biological system, is a powerful approach for experimentally verifying food integrity. They highlight the challenges associated with processing the enormous amount of data generated by high-resolution non-targeted LC-MS analyses and discuss various strategies for data evaluation. The review details the mandatory steps for data acquisition, followed by an explanation of the necessary preprocessing steps for data evaluation. Furthermore, the paper explores several multivariate analysis methods that are particularly suitable for this context. The authors also touch upon the identification of marker compounds, which is crucial for understanding the underlying biochemical changes related to food authenticity. The work underscores the importance of LC-MS in detecting subtle changes in food composition that can indicate fraud or mislabeling, contributing significantly to food safety and consumer trust.

This paper provides a comprehensive overview of food phenotyping using non-targeted liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) data for verifying food authenticity. The authors emphasize that metabolomics, which involves analyzing the totality of metabolites in a biological system, is a powerful approach for experimentally verifying food integrity. They highlight the challenges associated with processing the enormous amount of data generated by high-resolution non-targeted LC-MS analyses and discuss various strategies for data evaluation. The review details the mandatory steps for data acquisition, followed by an explanation of the necessary preprocessing steps for data evaluation. Furthermore, the paper explores several multivariate analysis methods that are particularly suitable for this context. The authors also touch upon the identification of marker compounds, which is crucial for understanding the underlying biochemical changes related to food authenticity. The work underscores the importance of LC-MS in detecting subtle changes in food composition that can indicate fraud or mislabeling, contributing significantly to food safety and consumer trust. Research Background and Significance Food authenticity has become an increasingly critical concern in the global food supply chain due to widespread incidents of food fraud and adulteration. Ensuring the integrity and safety of food products is paramount for consumer protection and regulatory compliance. Non-targeted metabolomics, particularly utilizing liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS), offers a comprehensive approach to characterize the entire metabolite profile of food samples. This approach, often referred to as food phenotyping, enables the detection of subtle biochemical changes associated with