Applications of electromigration techniques: Applications of electromigration techniques in food analysis

Abstract

Electromigration techniques, including capillary electrophoresis (CE), are widely used for separation and identification of compounds present in food products. These techniques may also be considered as alternate and complementary with respect to commonly used analytical techniques, such as high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), or gas chromatography (GC). Applications of CE concern the determination of high-molecular compounds, like polyphenols, including flavonoids, pigments, vitamins, food additives (preservatives, antioxidants, sweeteners, artificial pigments) are presented. Also, the method developed for the determination of proteins and peptides composed of amino acids, which are basic components of food products, are studied. Other substances such as carbohydrates, nucleic acids, biogenic amines, natural toxins, and other contaminations including pesticides and antibiotics are discussed. The possibility of CE application in food control laboratories, where analysis of the composition of food and food products are conducted, is of great importance. CE technique may be used during the control of technological processes in the food industry and for the identification of numerous compounds present in food. Due to the numerous advantages of the CE technique it is successfully used in routine food analysis. Determination of qualitative and quantitative composition of ready food products, as well as raw plant materials used for their production, allows to obtain the quality food accepted by consumers, dieticians, and also medical doctors and scientists examining the influence of food components on human health. Also, the problem of bioavailability of biologically active compounds present in raw materials and food products is an important issue. The food proposed by producers is often characterized by an unsuitable quality. Only high quality food is valuable for consumers, mainly due to the issue of hunger satisfying, and thus supplying an organism with products conditioning energy formation in metabolic processes, and also exhibiting health promoting properties and suitable taste and aroma features. Electromigration techniques, including capillary electrophoresis (CE), are used for mixtures separation and for identification of components present in food products. A variety of CE applications allows their utilization in determination of high-molecular compounds, especially peptides, proteins, nucleic acids, and also compounds of lower molecular mass such as: amino acids, carbohydrates, vitamins, polyphenols, including flavonoids and pigments, pesticides, inorganic ions, organic acids and others [1–4]. The possibility of CE application in food control laboratories, where analysis of the composition of food and food products, are conducted is of great importance.