The relative potential of various technologies for the confirmation of food authenticity and quality are discussed. Techniques that have found new applications in the field of quality assurance since 2001 are discussed in terms of their potential ease of application in an industrial setting. The use of specific techniques with chemometric analysis for the classification of food samples based on quality attributes is also included in this review. The techniques discussed are spectroscopy (UV, NIR, MIR, visible, Raman), isotopic analysis, chromatography, electronic nose, polymerase chain reaction, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and thermal analysis.

Abbreviations: DA, discriminant analysis; DSC, differential scanning calorimetry; ELISA, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; FT-IR, Fourier-transform infrared; FT-MIR, Fourier-transform mid-infrared; GC, gas chromatography; GC-MS, gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy; GC-TOFMS, gas chromatography-time of flight mass spectroscopy; HPLC, high performance liquid chromatography; HR-NMR, high-resolution mass spectroscopy; IR, infrared; IRMS, isotopic ratio mass spectroscopy; LDA, linear discriminant analysis; LR-NMR, low-resolution NMR spectroscopy; MIR, mid-infrared; MS, mass spectroscopy; NIR, near-infrared; NMR, nuclear magnetic resonance; PCA, principal components analysis; PCR, principal components regression; PDO, protected designation of origin; PLS, partial least squares; SNIF-NMR, site-specific nuclear isotopic fractionation NMR spectroscopy; UV–vis, ultraviolet–visible

Article Outline

Introduction

Spectroscopic techniques

MIR and NIR spectroscopy

Raman spectroscopy

NMR spectroscopy

SNIF-NMR and IRMS

Fluorescent and UV–vis spectroscopy

Chromatographic techniques

Gas chromatography

HPLC

Electronic nose

DNA-based technology

Immunological technology

Thermal techniques

Conclusions

References