Compound-specific isotope analysis to improve food traceability

The scandals of recent years have left their mark on consumer confidence in food products. For this reason there is increasing demand for analytical techniques able to provide data on issues such as the traceability, authenticity and origin of foods and beverages. Stable isotope ratios have been used for food authentication for thirty years, and in the last few years emerging methods aimed at individual chemical compounds have provided a means of obtaining a more in-depth understanding. In particular, a technique that shows enormous promise in this area is gas chromatography combustion/pyrolysis - isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC-C/Py-IRMS). This technique can be applied to a wide array of foods and beverages, generating data on key food components such as amino acids, fatty acids, aroma compounds and carbon dioxide (in carbonated beverages). This data can be used to verify the geographical origin of foods and food ingredients and the use of synthetic or organic fertilisers, as well as to determine the synthetic or natural origin of food ingredients. GC-C/Py-IRMS is thus one of the most powerful techniques available at the moment to detect fraudulent, illegal, or unsafe practices in the food and beverage industry