Non-targeted analysis – Beginning of a new era?

Is my olive oil really from Italy? Or does my honey contain any sugar syrup? Or my paprika any colorants?

In the past, so-called targeted analyses were used to answer these questions. Targeted means, that only one or few parameters of known identity, i.e. a known substance like a sudan dye, was analyzed. The drawback of this approach is, that you can only detect the substance that you are targeting. If that substance is not present in your sample but maybe other substances that point to some kind of adulteration do occur, then you won’t be able to detect those unless you are specifically searching for them.

That is why TCF² is additionally using another approach called non-targeted screening. Instead of looking at single substances, an entire fingerprint of a sample is being analyzed and then compared against a database of reference samples. “As we compare against a database, we do not need to know what we are looking for in the first place, as any deviation from the reference data set will be detected”, Arne Dübecke, Head of TCF², explains. This feature makes this approach especially powerful to confirm authenticity of products, as modes of adulteration are very diverse and targeting on single substances often only adds a piece to the puzzle instead of providing a comprehensive overview.

Arne Dübecke was invited to present on non-targeted testing at the “Advances in the Chemical Analysis of Food III” conference in Burlington house in London on Friday 17th June 2022. He pointed out that “the most important thing to consider when doing non-targeted testing is to have sound reference data of known authenticity”. He also made clear that it is crucial to “closely communicate to the customers about these fairly complex methods”. Apart from that Mr. Dübecke also commented, that “it was a great honor to be invited to present in such a great place as Burlington house in front of real people instead of only talking to the screen.”
There’s more to come!