Diverse domains of analysis, including food safety, environmental, clinical, forensic toxicology and doping control, face a similar, and substantial, challenge. Take food analysis, for example. A foodstuff may contain one, two or multiple residues of pesticides, veterinary drugs, natural toxins (mycotoxins, plant toxins) environmental contaminants, packaging contaminants and processing contaminants. Within each of these categories, hundreds of substances are known. For many of these chemicals, legal limits in food commodities have been established; for others, limits have not been set, either because authorities are unaware that they occur in food or because the toxicant is not yet recognized as such.

Read the full article now Log in or register to read this article in full and gain access to The Analytical Scientist’s entire content archive. It’s FREE and always will be! Login Email Password Forgot your password? Keep me logged in Log in Or register now - it’s free and always will be! You will benefit from: Unlimited access to ALL articles

News, interviews & opinions from leading industry experts

Receive print (and PDF) copies of The Analytical Scientist magazine Register Or Login via Social Media Twitter By clicking on any of the above social media links, you are agreeing to our Privacy Notice.

About the Author

Hans Mol

Hans Mol has been engaged in food safety analysis for almost 20 years. “And since my PhD at the Technical University in Eindhoven in the early 1990s I’ve been in favor of getting the whole analytical picture of a sample, rather than a snapshot of specific analysis at a certain moment in time,” he says. Hans points out that there is more information in samples than questions you can think of. “Rapid developments in chromatography combined with full scan mass spectrometry means we have access to more and more information. We can answer new questions, even when the analysis was done along time ago.”