Recent applications of omics-based technologies to main topics in food authentication

Abstract

Food adulteration, mislabeling and fraud, either unintentional or deliberate, is a worldwide and growing concern. Current challenges associated with food authentication comprise many topics: geographic origin, breed/variety identification, production method, feeding regime, technological processing, undeclared components, detection of genetically modified organisms and species substitution are the most common frauds. Accurate and reliable analytical methods are needed to monitor and control food authenticity and to guarantee correct and accurate labeling of foodstuffs, assuring that the components included in a food product are of the nature and quality declared by the seller. Omics-based massive molecular tools can help to circumvent limitations of traditional methodologies, and therefore genomics, proteomics and metabolomics-based methods are being developed for the authentication of a wide range of food commodities. In this review, we provide an updated, comprehensive and balanced overview of the recent studies (2015–2018) that have applied these omics-based technologies for the authentication of food features.