771319 Determination of provenance and authenticity of food and food products by modern analytical methods

Type
Lecture and seminar
Semester hours
2
Lecturer (assistant)
Hood-Nowotny, Rebecca , Hann, Stephan , Tchaikovsky, Anastassiya , Zitek, Andreas , Steininger-Mairinger, Teresa
Organisation
Offered in
Sommersemester 2025
Languages of instruction
Englisch
Content

Background: Provenance vs. authenticity of food; why do we need proof of provenance? National and international regulations; labeling of food;

Approaches for the determination of provenance: What intrinsic characteristic properties of food and food products can be used to assess provenance?

Methods for provenance determination:
Determination of intrinsic physical parameter
Determination of chemical parameter
Molecular biology techniques (specific markers)

Analytical techniques and information content
IR and Raman spectroscopy
Hyperspectral imaging
Chromatographic methods
Molecular mass spectrometry (targeted and non-targeted fingerprinting)
fingerprinting by elemental mass spectrometry and elemental spectroscopy
Isotopic fingerprints (NMR, SNIF-NMR, IRMS, TIMS MCI-ICP-MS)

Specific requirements (sampling, evaluation strategies, statistic methods, database analysis)
Previous knowledge expected

Basic background in chemistry and analytical chemistry
Objective (expected results of study and acquired competences)

After completion of the course the students will have a comprehensive overview of the methods available. They are able to decide on the most appropriate approach to identify provenance or authenticity of food and food products. They are also able to evaluate results on provenance and authenticity. Moreover, they will be able to set up a proper project from sampling to the final evaluation of the results for specific food commodities.
You can find more details like the schedule or information about exams on the course-page in BOKUonline.