Food analysis rarely stands still: limits keep falling, supply chains keep growing, and more sensitive instruments keep finding compounds nobody was looking for. RAFA 2026 Companion: Hot Topics in Food Analysis previews the conference in Prague (3–6 November). It opens with an introduction from symposium chairs Stefan van Leeuwen and Jana Pulkrabova, followed by interviews with five RAFA speakers. Darina Dvořáková covers changing EU PFAS rules, and Franz Berthiller makes the case for retention indices in mycotoxin LC–MS. Michele Suman screens alkaloids in cereals and spices, Anneli Kruve ranks unknowns in non-target screening by risk, Nicolai Zederkopff Ballin defines tolerable levels in food authentication, and Laura Righetti looks at the strengths and limits of mass spectrometry imaging.