The potentiality of NMR-based metabolomics in food science and food authentication assessment

In the last years, there was an increasing interest on nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, whose applications experienced an exponential growth in several research fields, particularly in food science. NMR was initially developed as the elective technique for structure elucidation of single molecules and nowadays is playing a dominant role in complex mixtures investigations. In the era of the “omics” techniques, NMR was rapidly enrolled as one of the most powerful methods to approach metabolomics studies. Its use in analytical routines, characterized by rapid and reproducible measurements, would provide the identification of a wide range of chemical compounds simultaneously, disclosing sophisticated frauds or addressing the geographical origin, as well as revealing potential markers for other authentication purposes. The great economic value of high-quality or guaranteed foods demands highly detailed characterization to protect both consumers and producers from frauds. The present scenario suggests metabolomics as the privileged approach of modern analytical studies for the next decades. The large potentiality of high-resolution NMR techniques is here presented through specific applications and using different approaches focused on the authentication process of some foods, like tomato paste, saffron, honey, roasted coffee, and balsamic and traditional balsamic vinegar of Modena, with a particular focus on geographical origin characterization, ageing determination, and fraud detection.