Food Analysis: A Brief Overview

Food products are complex mixtures consisting of naturally occurring compounds with nutritional value and contaminating substances, generally originating from technological processes, agrochemical treatments, or packaging materials. Since the exact content of a food product must be assessed before it can be put on the market, routine and/or specialized analysis protocols have been pointed out for the characterization of all compounds present in food and beverages. ThThe main approaches involve separation methods (e.g., chromatography), spectroscopic and biologically derived protocols. By developing effiffi cient methodology with high reproducibility and low detection limits, high quality and safety standards can be achieved to fit the developed government regulations.