Abstract

Rapid Methods for Contaminants and Natural Toxins in Food

Jacob Jong, Senior Scientist, Wageningen University

The presence of potentially hazardous chemicals in food remains a major concern among consumers. Currently, a variety of analytical test methods is used to help ensure the safety of food in Europe. Many of these methods are tedious and time consuming and require sophisticated and expensive instrumentation. During recent years rapid and cost-efficient screening methods have been developed for the detection of a wide range of chemical contaminants and natural toxins in different food commodities such as cereals, seafood, vegetables, fruit, honey and meat. The chemical contaminants include persistent organic pollutants, pesticides, heavy metal speciation and residues of antibiotics and coccidiostats. The natural toxins of concern are mycotoxins, marine biotoxins and plant toxins. In many cases, the rapid methods are multiplex or multi-class methods and some of these methods can also be applied on-site in industrial environments, outside the laboratory. In the presentation, an overview of recent developments will be given and the pros and cons of rapid screening methods versus well-established instrumental methods will be discussed.