Chromatography and the Challenge of Food Complexity

Food matrices are complex and challenging to analyze. Unlike pharmaceutical or environmental samples, food is an extraordinarily heterogeneous mixture of proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, pigments, flavor compounds, and countless minor constituents—all of which can vary depending on variety, geography, season, and processing conditions. This inherent variability makes it exceptionally difficult to establish reliable baselines and detect fraudulent additions or substitutions. The panel discuss how chromatographic techniques, from gas chromatography (GC) to high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and other techniques, have become indispensable tools for navigating this complexity, enabling analysts to isolate and identify target compounds within a sea of interfering matrix components. They also consider how method development must account for this variability if results are to be meaningful and defensible across different laboratories and regulatory contexts.

Deborah McKenzie, Deputy Assistant Executive Director and Chief Standards Officer at AOAC INTERNATIONAL, USA, moderates this illuminating discussion with leading experts adept at using separation science in food authenticity and food fraud applications; Chris Elliott, Founder of the Institute for Global Food Security (IGFS) at Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK, and Professor of Food Security at Thammasat University, Thailand; Michele Suman, Food Safety & Authenticity Research Manager, Barilla Analytical Food Science, Italy, and Adjunct Professor of AgriFood Authenticity, Catholic University Sacred Heart; and Nicholas Birse, Lecturer in Mass Spectrometry, Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK and a Researcher at the Institute for Global Food Security (IGFS), Northern Ireland, UK.