Application Notebook - Solutions for Food Development

Importance of Topic

Food composition analysis underpins product development, quality control and safety assurance in the food industry. Modern professions—from academic researchers to industrial QC labs—need sensitive, robust and high‐throughput methods for detecting vitamins, sugars, sweeteners, amino compounds and trace contaminants. Comprehensive profiling of nutritional, flavor and functional compounds informs product optimization, authenticity verification and process monitoring.

Objectives and Study Overview

This collection of application reports illustrates Shimadzu’s analytical solutions for food development. Key goals include simultaneous quantitation of water‐soluble vitamins without ion pairing, sugar and sugar alcohol analysis in beverages, dietary fiber and oligosaccharide profiling, sweetener screening, amino compound determination, aroma and metabolite fingerprinting, and advanced two‐dimensional separations of complex lipids and bioactive pigments. Across HPLC, GC, LC–MS/MS and comprehensive 2D‐LC platforms, studies use real samples—juices, drinks, tablets, sake, beers, vinegars, oils and citrus fruits—to demonstrate method performance.

Methodology and Instrumentation

Methods employ Shimadzu instruments including Prominence‐i and Nexera series HPLC systems with UV, RID or ELSD detection; LCMS‐8040/8050/8060 triple quadrupole and LCMS‐IT‐TOF mass spectrometers; Nexera‐e 2D‐LC; GC‐2010 Plus and Prominence autosamplers with FID, BID, ELSD and headspace sampling; UV‐2700 UV‐VIS and RF‐6000 spectrofluorophotometers. Columns range from reversed‐phase ODS, cyano, amino, hydrophilic interaction, ion‐exchange to silver‐impregnated and PLOT capillaries. Automated sample pretreatments include enzymatic digestion, SPE, protein precipitation and headspace trapping. Comprehensive method scouting, automated valve switching and gradient programming support high sensitivity and multiplexed analyses.

Main Results and Discussion

• Simultaneous eight‐vitamin quantitation in tablets, achieving <2.5% RSD without ion‐pair reagents.
• Sugar profiles in juices, energy drinks and dietary fiber beverages by HPLC–RID and ELSD with <0.001% R² linearity.
• Oligosaccharide and sweetener screening in supplements and foods via LC–MS/MS, with quantitation down to pg/mL levels and recoveries 85–125%.
• Amino compounds (histamine, tyramine, chiral amino acids) by post-column fluorescence and column switching for D/L separations.
• Aroma and metabolite fingerprinting in sake, beers, vinegars and citrus—coupling GC–FID/GC–MS and LC–MS/MS with multivariate analysis to distinguish product types.
• Comprehensive 2D‐LC separations of triglycerides, polyphenols and carotenoids in complex matrices, with contour plots revealing over 30 components per class.

Benefits and Practical Applications

These robust methods deliver rapid, high‐resolution separations, minimal sample prep and broad analyte coverage. Key practical advantages include elimination of ion‐pair reagents, high‐temperature column operation for sugar HILIC, universal ELSD detection for non-UV‐active species, and multiplexed LC–MS/MS workflows for regulatory screening of vitamins, sweeteners and contaminants. They enable food and beverage manufacturers to assure label compliance, enhance flavor profiling and identify subtle quality differences.

Future Trends and Potential Uses

Emerging directions include wider adoption of comprehensive 2D‐LC for untargeted lipid and phytochemical profiling, metabolomics‐driven microbial breeding, and integrated spectroscopic‐spectrometric fingerprints coupled with machine learning for batch tracking. Automation of multi‐omics workflows and portable GC/LC systems will expand in‐line process monitoring. Advanced chiral separations and real‐time headspace analysis will support next-generation quality and authenticity testing.

Conclusion

Shimadzu’s suite of chromatography and mass spectrometry platforms provides flexible, high‐sensitivity solutions for comprehensive food analysis. From targeted quantitation to untargeted profiling and two-dimensional separations, these methods enhance food quality assurance, support regulatory compliance and facilitate product innovation.

Reference

• Shimadzu Solutions for Food Development Application Notebook, C10G-E060, First Edition March 2018.
• Kawata et al., Simultaneous Analysis of Water-Soluble Vitamins by Shim-pack MAqC-ODS I Column, Shimadzu App. News L459, 2014.
• Shimadzu Prominence-i Application News L467, L481, L474, L507, 2014–2016.
• Yamashita et al., LCMS-8040/8050/8060 Methods for Sweetener and Amino Acid Analysis, Shimadzu App. News C121, C133, C149, C156, 2015–2017.
• Mondello et al., Comprehensive 2D LC of Triglycerides, Carotenoids and Polyphenols in Food, Shimadzu App. News L492A, L491, 2015–2016.
• Mimura et al., Aroma and Metabolite Profiling in Sake and Beer by GC–MS and LC–MS/MS with Multivariate Analysis, Shimadzu App. News M271, C121, 2014–2016.
• Kawano et al., Metabolomics-driven Microbial Breeding via LC–MS of Sulfur-Containing Metabolites, Shimadzu App. News C131, 2016.