Research advances in detection of food adulteration and application of MALDI-TOF MS: A review

Food adulteration and illegal supplementations have always been one of the major problems in the world. The threat of food adulteration to the health of consumers cannot be ignored. Food of questionable origin causes economic losses to consumers, but the potential health risks cannot be ignored. However, the traditional detection methods are time-consuming and complex. This review mainly discusses the types of adulteration and technologies used to detect adulteration. Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) is also emphasized in the detection of adulteration and authenticity of origin analysis of various types of food (milk, meat, edible oil, etc.), and the future application direction and feasibility of this technology are analyzed. On this basis, MALDI-TOF MS was compared with other detection methods, highlighting the advantages of this technology in the detection of food adulteration. The future development prospect and direction of this technology are also emphasized.