Application of new mass spectrometric methods and workflows to determine authenticity of food

The increasing popularity of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) and the increasing problem of food fraud have provided the need for quality and authenticity control. Typical problems are the mislabeling of protected designation of origin (PDO) or edible oil adulteration. In this presentation we give an overview about the capabilities of different mass spectrometric methods to accurately determine the PDO of EVOO.

• Multi-class LC-MS and GC-MS methodologies together with statistical methods enable the discrimination between different PDOs, identifying potential origin markers.
• The combined use of non-targeted and targeted approaches enhances the outcome of the study. GC-APCI-QTOF preserves the pseudo-molecular ion information, which is a great advantage and facilitates the identification.
• Co-eluting isomers maybe PDO markers and these can be identified and characterized by timsTOF technology.
• Rapid LC-free, magnetic resonance mass spectrometry (MRMS) analysis was used for mapping and quality control assessment of EVOO using statistical methods which allows for clustering according to geographical origin, harvesting year, cultivation practice and the oil production procedure.

Key Topics

• Introduction to food authenticity using the example of EVOO and the application of new software tools, in combination with UHPLC-QTOF and GC-APCI-QTOF, to identify origin markers.
• Introduction into timsTOF technology and the separation of isomeric markers by timsTOF.
• Application of LC-free, magnetic resonance mass spectrometry (MRMS) for rapid quality control assessment of extra virgin olive oil.

Who should attend?

• Scientist working in the field of food research and foodomics interested in determining authenticity and/or adulteration of edible oils.
• Scientists wishing to learn about powerful new techniques to separate isobaric isomers by mass spectroscopic techniques.

Presenter: Dr. Carsten Baessmann

Dr. Carsten Baessmann is responsible for the development of new mass spectrometry-based solutions in the applied markets. His responsibilities include managing collaborations with leading researchers in food, environmental, forensics and clinical analysis. He is also responsible for driving the necessary hardware and software development. Dr. Baessmann holds a PhD in physical chemistry from the Technical University of Munich in the development of new mass spectrometric and laser spectroscopic methods. He has held various management positions in research and development and application development at Bruker for 22 years.