Green analytical chemistry applied in food analysis: alternative techniques

Quality control of foods can be evaluated by determination of parameters, such as the physico-chemical composition and the determination of macro and micronutrients (carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, fibers, ashes, minerals, vitamins, among others), determination of the nutritional and bioactive components, microbial contamination and presence of pathogens, determination of the origin of food products, or the detection of adulteration in food matrices. The determination of food quality can be accomplished by conventional analytical techniques that needs time consuming, laborious sample preparation and often responsible for environmental contamination (toxic wastes). Vibrational spectroscopy (infrared, Raman and Hyperspectral Image System) associated with chemometrics have been successfully applied as alternatives for these analyses, since they are fast, have little or no sample preparation, do not generate risks to the operator or produce toxic waste, according to green chemistry principles.