Forensic attribution profiling of food using liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry

Food forensic analysis is used to examine and resolve misbehaviors that may comprise adulteration, authenticity, detection of illicit substances, microbial spoilage, and foodborne illness, among others. When motivated by materialistic motives, foodstuff trickery may originate from severe health and financial consequences. This recalls the persistence for the development of reliable, versatile, selective, and sensitivity analytical tools for the identification of intentional adulteration intended to cause widespread harm to public health. The current chapter will focus on forensic attribution profiling of food by liquid chromatography (LC) or ultrahigh performance LC coupled to mass spectrometry (MS) or tandem MS (MS/MS). For this purpose, our research involves the period from 2018 to 2020 and emphasizes on chemical warfare agents (e.g., nerve agents, toxins, and plastic contaminants); food additives (e.g., sweeteners, preservatives, and colorants); and veterinary drugs (e.g., antibiotics, nonsteroidal antiinflammatory, and anthelmintics). Our aim in this chapter is to provide to the reader, the versatility and usefulness of LC–MS(/MS) on forensic food profiling.