RAFA 2021 BOOKLET

Significance of the Topic

Ensuring food safety, quality and authenticity remains a global priority for public health, industry and regulators. Recent advances in analytical chemistry—ranging from high-resolution chromatography and mass spectrometry to mobile sensing and metabolomic profiling—provide new capabilities to detect contaminants, authenticate origin, and understand food metabolism in response to environmental stress.

Objectives and Overview of RAFA 2021

RAFA 2021 (Recent Advances in Food Analysis) convened experts from academia, industry and government to:

• Review cutting-edge analytical challenges and solutions
• Discuss non-targeted and targeted approaches to fraud detection
• Demonstrate novel instrumentation in food testing
• Foster collaboration on regulatory and industrial implementation

Organized by UCT Prague and Wageningen Food Safety Research, this two-day virtual event covered five plenary sessions, 20 lectures, and two streams of vendor webinars.

Methodology and Instrumentation

Key analytical techniques presented included:

• Comprehensive GC×GC-TOF and 3D-LC (LC³MS⁴) for complex mixtures
• High-resolution LC-HRMS and GC-HRMS for metabolomics and lipidomics
• Mass spectrometry imaging (DESI, MALDI, AP-SMALDI) for spatial metabolite mapping
• Single-particle ICP-MS to size and quantify TiO₂ nanoparticles
• Smartphone-based immunoassays and MS readout for field screening
• Trapped ion mobility (TIMS) and Orbitrap platforms for expanded confirmation
• Microwave-assisted extraction and saponification to accelerate sample preparation

Workflows emphasized streamlined sample cleanup (QuEChERS, immunoaffinity cartridges), automated data processing (exception-focused review, MS Quan apps, retention time prediction), and rigorous quality control (FDR estimation, permutation-based validation).

Key Results and Discussion

Highlights included:

• Improved limits of detection for mycotoxins, pesticides and PFAS
• Successful authentication of botanical and geographical origin using one-class modelling and metabolomic fingerprints
• Detection of mycotoxin patterns in cereals under climate-driven pathogen shifts
• Identification of hidden MOSH/MOAH interferences and reliable quantitation using GC×GC and FID/MS
• Real-time monitoring of food freshness markers by SIFT-MS at consumer scale

Panel discussions addressed standardization, cross-laboratory comparability, and data interoperability.

Benefits and Practical Applications

Adoption of these methods can:

• Reduce false positives in regulatory screening
• Enable decentralized field testing with smartphones
• Speed up throughput via automated sample prep and data review
• Provide deeper metabolite insights to optimize nutrition and safety

Future Trends and Potential Applications

Emerging directions include:

• Integration of machine learning for non-target data mining
• Expansion of CCS libraries for enhanced MS/MS confidence
• Development of portable MS and microfluidic solutions for on-site analysis
• Strengthened global harmonization of reference materials and methods

Conclusion

RAFA 2021 underscored the critical role of collaborative innovation in analytical chemistry for safeguarding the food chain. By combining advanced instrumentation with robust workflows and digital data platforms, the community is well positioned to meet evolving challenges in food fraud prevention, safety assurance, and nutritional quality assessment.

Reference

Program and lecture abstracts from Recent Advances in Food Analysis (RAFA) 2021, University of Chemistry and Technology Prague and Wageningen Food Safety Research, November 3–4, 2021.