Metabolomics: Applications to food safety and quality research

Abstract

Monitoring of food safety and quality is one of the major concerns worldwide and consumers today are more aware of the overall composition and safety issues of food. Therefore, many food composition studies have been undertaken to gain insight into the metabolism and stress responses of food spoilage microorganisms. Metabolomics has been successfully applied to food science as a result of the recent advancements in instrumental techniques and the availability of many databases that allow the detection and identification of over 1000 metabolites in food products in a single analysis. Metabolomics also has great potential for identification of biomarkers related to food spoilage by pathogenic microorganisms, which may lead to the development of early detection techniques to control their growth. In this chapter, the utility of metabolomics for studying different areas of food safety and quality will be reviewed. Insights on how a metabolomics approach can help in determining microbiological and chemical hazards in food products are also provided. Furthermore, the application of metabolomics to studying potential adverse effects on health from the consumption of genetically modified foods or food products with high concentrations of residual pesticides and other chemical contaminants is also considered.