Food safety and traceability using protein profiling

Mass spectrometry is widely used in pharmaceutical and food applications, the latter including complex matrices. Proteins and their peptide derivatives are responsible for food allergy, food functionality, nutritional properties (e.g. satiety), and food structure and also can be used for ‘fingerprinting’ of foods. The approach could lead to reliable food safety applications, food fraud control, enhanced product development and efficient nutritional applications. This project will develop confirmatory methods for food allergen testing and the detection of the allergen source, multi-allergen testing methods, and protocols for handling difficult matrices in allergen testing and for the detection and the quantification of selected peptides/proteins.