Future Food Analysis and Detection—2nd Volume

Topic Information

Dear Colleagues,

The demographic increase, the demand for food, and the impact of production on the environment have always been some of the main issues which affect society on a global scale. Recently, a greater awareness of these issues has contributed to the search for food alternatives which can meet the needs of the world population. Science needs to keep up with the times, and new tools for the analysis of traditional and novel food products are needed. In particular, given the abovementioned premises, it is clear that developing new approaches for the authentication and characterization of novel foods, as well as the improvement of methods for the prevention of food fraud, are of utmost importance.

In the light of this, the present topic aims at collecting original research works, where new analytical/chemometric approaches in the field of food analysis are proposed. In particular, papers related to the authentication, characterization, and traceability of foods, describing novel approaches for food detection or to assess the geographical origin of commodities, as well as papers addressing the resolution of problems in the field of food analysis are very welcome. Moreover, given the close link between these subjects and chemometrics, the submission of articles discussing the development of new chemometric approaches that can be applied to the resolution of food analytical problems is also encouraged. Finally, to provide a complete overview of recent trends in this area, reviews in this framework will also be gladly received.

Dr. Alessandra Biancolillo
Prof. Dr. Federico Marini
Topic Editors

Participating Journals

Journal Name	Impact Factor	CiteScore	Launched Year	First Decision (median)	APC
Applied Sciences applsci	2.5	5.3	2011	18.4 Days	CHF 2400
AppliedChem appliedchem	-	-	2021	18.8 Days	CHF 1000
Foods foods	4.7	7.4	2012	14.5 Days	CHF 2900
Methods and Protocols mps	2.3	3.6	2018	30.6 Days	CHF 1800
Molecules molecules	4.2	7.4	1996	15.1 Days	CHF 2700

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Published Papers (8 papers)

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12 pages, 1804 KiB  

Open AccessArticle

UPLC-Q-Exactive Orbitrap-MS-Based Untargeted Lipidomic Analysis of Lipid Molecular Species in Spinal Cords from Different Domesticated Animals

by Na Li, Long Xu, Hongbo Li, Zhenbin Liu, Haizhen Mo and Yue Wu

Foods 2023, 12(19), 3634; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12193634 - 30 Sep 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1602

Abstract

Lipids are crucial components for the maintenance oof normal structure and function in the nervous system. Elucidating the diversity of lipids in spinal cords may contribute to our understanding of neurodevelopment. This study comprehensively analyzed the fatty acid (FA) compositions and lipidomes of [...] Read more.

Lipids are crucial components for the maintenance oof normal structure and function in the nervous system. Elucidating the diversity of lipids in spinal cords may contribute to our understanding of neurodevelopment. This study comprehensively analyzed the fatty acid (FA) compositions and lipidomes of the spinal cords of eight domesticated animal species: pig, cattle, yak, goat, horse, donkey, camel, and sika deer. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis revealed that saturated fatty acids (SFAs) and monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) were the primary FAs in the spinal cords of these domesticated animals, accounting for 72.54–94.23% of total FAs. Notably, oleic acid, stearic acid and palmitic acid emerged as the most abundant FA species. Moreover, untargeted lipidomics by UPLC-Q-Exactive Orbitrap-MS demonstrated that five lipid classes, including glycerophospholipids (GPs), sphingolipids (SPs), glycerolipids (GLs), FAs and saccharolipids (SLs), were identified in the investigated spinal cords, with phosphatidylcholine (PC) being the most abundant among all identified lipid classes. Furthermore, canonical correlation analysis showed that PC, PE, TAG, HexCer-NS and SM were significantly associated with genome sequence data. These informative data provide insight into the structure and function of mammalian nervous tissues and represent a novel contribution to lipidomics. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Future Food Analysis and Detection—2nd Volume)

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20 pages, 2594 KiB  

Open AccessArticle

Using Science and Technology to Unveil The Hidden Delicacy Terfezia arenaria, a Desert Truffle

by Inês Ferreira, Teresa Dias, Abdul M. Mouazen and Cristina Cruz

Foods 2023, 12(19), 3527; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12193527 - 22 Sep 2023

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2251

Abstract

Terfezia arenaria is a desert truffle native to the Mediterranean Basin region, highly appreciated for its nutritional and aromatic properties. Despite the increasing interest in this desert truffle, T. arenaria is not listed as an edible truffle authorized for trade in the European [...] Read more.

Terfezia arenaria is a desert truffle native to the Mediterranean Basin region, highly appreciated for its nutritional and aromatic properties. Despite the increasing interest in this desert truffle, T. arenaria is not listed as an edible truffle authorized for trade in the European Union. Therefore, our objective was to showcase T. arenaria’s nutritional and chemical composition and volatile profile. The nutritional analysis showed that T. arenaria is a good source of carbohydrates (67%), proteins (14%), and dietary fibre (10%), resulting in a Nutri-Score A. The truffle’s volatile profile was dominated by eight-carbon volatile compounds, with 1-octen-3-ol being the most abundant (64%), and 29 compounds were reported for the first time for T. arenaria. T. arenaria’s nutritional and chemical compositions were similar to those of four commercial mushroom and truffle species, while the aromatic profile was not. An electronic nose corroborated that T. arenaria‘s aromatic profile differs from that of the other four tested mushroom and truffle species. Our data showed that T. arenaria is a valuable food resource with a unique aroma and an analogous composition to meat, which makes it an ideal source for plant-based meat products. Our findings could help promote a sustainable future exploitation of T. arenaria and ensure the quality and authenticity of this delicacy. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Future Food Analysis and Detection—2nd Volume)

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18 pages, 7885 KiB  

Open AccessArticle

Application of Near Infrared Spectroscopy for the Rapid Assessment of Nutritional Quality of Different Strawberry Cultivars

by Manuela Mancini, Luca Mazzoni, Elena Leoni, Virginia Tonanni, Francesco Gagliardi, Rohullah Qaderi, Franco Capocasa, Giuseppe Toscano and Bruno Mezzetti

Foods 2023, 12(17), 3253; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12173253 - 29 Aug 2023

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2595

Abstract

Strawberry is the most cultivated berry fruit globally and it is really appreciated by consumers because of its characteristics, mainly bioactive compounds with antioxidant properties. During the breeding process, it is important to assess the quality characteristics of the fruits for a better [...] Read more.

Strawberry is the most cultivated berry fruit globally and it is really appreciated by consumers because of its characteristics, mainly bioactive compounds with antioxidant properties. During the breeding process, it is important to assess the quality characteristics of the fruits for a better selection of the material, but the conventional approaches involve long and destructive lab techniques. Near infrared spectroscopy (NIR) could be considered a valid alternative for speeding up the breeding process and is not destructive. In this study, a total of 216 strawberry fruits belonging to four different cultivars have been collected and analyzed with conventional lab analysis and NIR spectroscopy. In detail, soluble solid content, acidity, vitamin C, anthocyanin, and phenolic acid have been determined. Partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) models have been developed to classify strawberry fruits belonging to the four genotypes according to their quality and nutritional properties. NIR spectroscopy could be considered a valid non-destructive phenotyping method for monitoring the nutritional parameters of the fruit and ensuring the fruit quality, speeding up the breeding program. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Future Food Analysis and Detection—2nd Volume)

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10 pages, 1624 KiB  

Open AccessProtocol

Utilizing Dichloromethane as an Extremely Proficient Substitute for Phenol/Chloroform in Extracting RNA with Exceptional Purity from Woody Tissues of Coconut

by Amjad Iqbal and Yaodong Yang

Methods Protoc. 2023, 6(5), 75; https://doi.org/10.3390/mps6050075 - 26 Aug 2023

Viewed by 1986

Abstract

Procuring high-grade RNA from mature coconut tissues is a tricky and labor-intensive process due to the intricate scaffold of polysaccharides, polyphenols, lipids, and proteins that form firm complexes with nucleic acids. However, we have effectively developed a novel method for the first time, [...] Read more.

Procuring high-grade RNA from mature coconut tissues is a tricky and labor-intensive process due to the intricate scaffold of polysaccharides, polyphenols, lipids, and proteins that form firm complexes with nucleic acids. However, we have effectively developed a novel method for the first time, letting the retrieval of high-grade RNA from the roots, endosperm, and mesocarp of mature coconut trees take place. In this method, we exploited dichloromethane as a replacement to phenol/chloroform for RNA recovery from mature coconut tissues. The amount of high-grade RNA acquired from the roots of mature coconut trees was 120.7 µg/g, with an A260/280 ratio of 1.95. Similarly, the mature coconut mesocarp yielded 134.6 µg/g FW of quality RNA with A260/280 ratio of 1.98, whereas the mature coconut endosperm produced 120.4 µg/g FW of quality RNA with A260/280 ratio of 2.01. Furthermore, the RNA isolation using the dichloromethane method exhibited excellent performance in downstream experiments, particularly in RT-PCR for cDNA production and amplification. On the contrary, the RNA plant kit, TRIZOL, and Cetyl Trimethyl Ammonium Bromide (CTAB) methods were unsuccessful in isolating substantial quantities of RNA with exceptional purities from the mentioned coconut tissues. In view of these findings, we conclude that the newly developed method will be pivotal in effectively extracting RNA with high purity from mature coconut tissues. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Future Food Analysis and Detection—2nd Volume)

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17 pages, 1787 KiB  

Open AccessArticle

NMR-Based Characterization of Wood Decay Fungi as Promising Novel Foods: Abortiporus biennis, Fomitopsis iberica and Stereum hirsutum Mycelia as Case Studies

by Lorenzo Goppa, Mattia Spano, Rebecca Michela Baiguera, Marco Cartabia, Paola Rossi, Luisa Mannina and Elena Savino

Foods 2023, 12(13), 2507; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12132507 - 28 Jun 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1733

Abstract

Wood Decay Fungi (WDF) are fungi specialized in degrading wood. An interesting perspective is their use as a source of Novel Foods or food ingredients. Here, for the first time, the metabolite profiling of hydroalcoholic and organic extracts from A. biennis, F. [...] Read more.

Wood Decay Fungi (WDF) are fungi specialized in degrading wood. An interesting perspective is their use as a source of Novel Foods or food ingredients. Here, for the first time, the metabolite profiling of hydroalcoholic and organic extracts from A. biennis, F. iberica, S. hirsutum mycelia was investigated by NMR methodology. Amino acids (alanine, arginine, asparagine, aspartate, betaine, GABA, glutamate, glutamine, histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, tyrosine, valine), sugars (galactose, glucose, maltose, trehalose, mannitol), organic acids (acetate, citrate, formate, fumarate, lactate, malate, succinate), adenosine, choline, uracil and uridine were identified and quantified in the hydroalcoholic extracts, whereas the ¹H spectra of organic extracts showed the presence of saturated, mono-unsaturated and di-unsaturated fatty chains, ergosterol,1,2-diacyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphatidylethanolamine, and 1,2-diacyl-sasglycero-3-phosphatidylcholine. A. biennis extracts showed the highest amino acid concentration. Some compounds were detected only in specific species: betaine and mannitol in S. hirsutum, maltose in A. biennis, galactose in F. iberica, GABA in F. iberica and S. hirsutum, and acetate in A. biennis and S. hirsutum. S. hirsutum showed the highest saturated fatty chain concentration, whereas DUFA reached the highest concentration in A. biennis. A high amount of ergosterol was measured both in A. biennis and F. iberica. The reported results can be useful in the development of WDF-based products with a high nutritional and nutraceutical value. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Future Food Analysis and Detection—2nd Volume)

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13 pages, 3216 KiB  

Open AccessArticle

ReS₂ Nanoflowers-Assisted Confined Growth of Gold Nanoparticles for Ultrasensitive and Reliable SERS Sensing

by Yongping Li, Haohui Liao, Shaobing Wu, Xiaoyu Weng, Yiping Wang, Liwei Liu, Junle Qu, Jun Song, Shuai Ye, Xiantong Yu and Yu Chen

Molecules 2023, 28(11), 4288; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28114288 - 24 May 2023

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2140

Abstract

ReS₂, as a new member of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs), has emerged as a promising substrate for semiconductor surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) due to its unique optoelectronic properties. Nevertheless, the sensitivity of the ReS₂ SERS substrate poses a significant challenge [...] Read more.

ReS₂, as a new member of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs), has emerged as a promising substrate for semiconductor surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) due to its unique optoelectronic properties. Nevertheless, the sensitivity of the ReS₂ SERS substrate poses a significant challenge to its widespread application in trace detection. In this work, we present a reliable approach for constructing a novel ReS₂/AuNPs SERS composite substrate, enabling ultrasensitive detection of trace amounts of organic pesticides. We demonstrate that the porous structures of ReS₂ nanoflowers can effectively confine the growth of AuNPs. By precisely controlling the size and distribution of AuNPs, numerous efficient and densely packed “hot spots” were created on the surface of ReS₂ nanoflowers. As a result of the synergistic enhancement of the chemical and electromagnetic mechanisms, the ReS₂/AuNPs SERS substrate demonstrates high sensitivity, good reproducibility, and superior stability in detecting typical organic dyes such as rhodamine 6G and crystalline violet. The ReS₂/AuNPs SERS substrate shows an ultralow detection limit of 10⁻¹⁰ M and a linear detection of organic pesticide molecules within 10⁻⁶–10⁻¹⁰ M, which is significantly lower than the EU Environmental Protection Agency regulation standards. The strategy of constructing ReS₂/AuNPs composites would contribute to the development of highly sensitive and reliable SERS sensing platforms for food safety monitoring. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Future Food Analysis and Detection—2nd Volume)

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19 pages, 998 KiB  

Open AccessReview

Towards a Standardized Approach for the Geographical Traceability of Plant Foods Using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA)

by Quang Trung Nguyen, Thanh Thao Nguyen, Van Nhan Le, Ngoc Tung Nguyen, Ngoc Minh Truong, Minh Tao Hoang, Thi Phuong Thao Pham and Quang Minh Bui

Foods 2023, 12(9), 1848; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12091848 - 29 Apr 2023

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 6442

Abstract

This paper presents a systematic literature review focused on the use of inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) combined with PCA, a multivariate technique, for determining the geographical origin of plant foods. Recent studies selected and applied the ICP-MS analytical method and PCA [...] Read more.

This paper presents a systematic literature review focused on the use of inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) combined with PCA, a multivariate technique, for determining the geographical origin of plant foods. Recent studies selected and applied the ICP-MS analytical method and PCA in plant food geographical traceability. The collected results from many previous studies indicate that ICP-MS with PCA is a useful tool and is widely used for authenticating and certifying the geographic origin of plant food. The review encourages scientists and managers to discuss the possibility of introducing an international standard for plant food traceability using ICP-MS combined with PCA. The use of a standard method will reduce the time and cost of analysis and improve the efficiency of trade and circulation of goods. Furthermore, the main steps needed to establish the standard for this traceability method are reported, including the development of guidelines and quality control measures, which play a pivotal role in providing authentic product information through each stage of production, processing, and distribution for consumers and authority agencies. This might be the basis for establishing the standards for examination and controlling the quality of foods in the markets, ensuring safety for consumers. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Future Food Analysis and Detection—2nd Volume)

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16 pages, 4310 KiB  

Open AccessArticle

E-Eye-Based Approach for Traceability and Annuality Compliance of Lentils

by Martina Foschi, Valerio Di Maria, Angelo Antonio D’Archivio, Federico Marini and Alessandra Biancolillo

Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(3), 1433; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13031433 - 21 Jan 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1627

Abstract

In recent years, thanks to their numerous nutritional benefits, legumes have been rediscovered and have attracted interest from many consumers. However, these products, the most valuable ones traditionally produced in smaller communities in particular, can be objects of fraud; this is the case [...] Read more.

In recent years, thanks to their numerous nutritional benefits, legumes have been rediscovered and have attracted interest from many consumers. However, these products, the most valuable ones traditionally produced in smaller communities in particular, can be objects of fraud; this is the case of Italian lentils, which, being a dry product, have a fairly long shelf life, but, due to the minimal visual changes that can affect them, it is possible that expired lentils may be sold alongside edible ones. The present work aims at creating a non-destructive method for classifying Italian lentils according to their harvest year and origin, and for discriminating between expired and edible ones. In order to achieve this goal, Red-Green-Blue (RGB) imaging, which could be considered as a sort of e-eye and represents a cutting-edge, rapid, and effective analytical method, was used in combination with a discriminant classifier (Sequential Preprocessing through ORThogonalization-Linear Discriminant Analysis, SPORT-LDA) to create novel testing models. The SPORT-LDA models built to discriminate the different geographical origins provided an average correct classification rate on the test set of about 88%, whereas an overall 90% accuracy was obtained (on the test samples) by the SPORT-LDA model built to recognize whether a sample was still within its expiry date or not. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Future Food Analysis and Detection—2nd Volume)

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