Food Authentication by MALDI MS: MALDI-TOF MS Analysis of Fish Species

Consumer demand for fish is constantly increasing due to the awareness of beneficial effects of fishery products on human health. Furthermore, the opening of new markets and the use of a growing number of fish species strongly recall the urgent need to guarantee safety, traceability and authenticity of seafood. Recent European Union directives and regulations for quality control of food products have prompted the development of new methods for large-scale tests to ensure consumer protection. MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry has provided a significant contribution to food science, proving to be a key tool in the analysis of several food matrices, including fish, especially in studies aimed to assess food quality, safety and authenticity. The present chapter is focused on an innovative molecular profiling strategy based on MALDI-TOF mass spectrometric analysis of sarcoplasmic protein extracts from fish muscle, successfully applied to fish authentication. This method allows to rapidly discriminate different fish species, to verify commercial product authenticity and to detect fraudulent substitutions