RAFA 2021: Uncovering chemical markers of food quality and authenticity

The RAFA Symposium is a leading platform for scientists from academia, industry and government to exchange information on the recent advances in food analysis. We invite you to our vendor seminar at RAFA 2021, where we will describe the use of automated sample extraction and enrichment combined with GC×GC–TOF MS for comprehensive non-target screening of aroma volatiles from food and beverages.

Our guest speaker, Dr Natasha Spadafora, will then discuss how this technology has been applied in the fruit quality (FRUITY) project to provide a better understanding of physiological changes in fruit for objective quality assessment of fruit quality during post-harvest storage.

By attending this webinar you will:

• Find out how Centri® can offer high sensitivity unattended sampling and pre-concentration of VOCs and SVOCs in liquid, solid and gaseous samples.

• See how two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC×GC) using INSIGHT® flow modulation allows you to discover more from aroma profiles.

• Learn about the advantages of BenchTOF2 mass spectrometers for sensitive detection, confident identification, and easy-to-use workflows.

• See how smart ChromCompare+ software can automatically ‘spot the difference’ between complex VOC profiles.

• Hear about the real-world application of this technology for evaluation of fruit quality during post-harvest storage

Finding the needle in the haystack: Non-target GC×GC–TOF MS workflows for food quality and authenticity evaluation

Reliable analysis of foods and beverages is vital for quality control, new product development and in authenticity studies.

In this presentation, we will describe the use of automated sample extraction and enrichment combined with GC×GC–TOF MS for comprehensive non-target screening of aroma volatiles from food and beverages.

Additionally, we will demonstrate the use of simple data analysis workflows to automatically discover significant differences between complex aroma profiles and allow meaningful conclusions to be drawn in quality and authenticity studies.

Presenter: Dr Laura McGregor (SepSolve Analytical, UK)

Laura’s background is in analytical forensic science, and her Ph.D. (at the University of Strathclyde, UK) focused on the chemical fingerprinting of environmental contamination using GC×GC−TOF MS. She joined SepSolve in October 2017, where she oversees marketing activities across the full product range.

Comprehensive volatilome profiling by TD–GC×GC–TOF MS for the determination of fruit quality

The fruit quality (FRUITY) project aims to provide new predictive technologies and a better understanding of physiological changes in fruit for objective quality assessment of fruit quality during post-harvest storage.

The project uses a multi-trait approach - including sensory profiling, monitoring of the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) produced by the fruit and investigation of biochemical reactions - with the overall goal of providing the industry with diagnostic kits for the evaluation of fruit quality during post-harvest storage.

In this presentation, we will focus on the VOC profiles from peach cultivars. Here, the enhanced separation and high sensitivity of TD–GC×GC–TOF MS enabled 115 VOCs to be identified, 15 of which were used to distinguish between the peach cultivars. We will also show how individual cultivars reacted differently to cold storage, with different changes in VOC profiles seen after seven days of storage (the typical time taken for shipping from southern Italy to northern Europe).

Presenter: Dr Natasha Spadafora (University of Calabria, Italy)

Dr Natasha D. Spadafora is a Research Fellow in Food Science working on project FRUITY at the University of Calabria in collaboration with Markes International. She has a PhD from Cardiff University and has undertaken postdoctoral research on food quality and safety in collaboration with Cardiff University, the Catholic University of Portugal and the University of Milan.