Edibilomics: Using Metabolomics in Food-Related Research

IFT Chicago, IL

Location: IFTNEXT Stage, North Hall
Metabolomics is a new and emerging field with applicability to food and nutrition-related research. Metabolomics aims to profile the totality of chemical compounds present within a system (plant, fruit or vegetable, processed food product, or biological fluid) allowing hundreds or thousands of chemicals can be monitored simultaneously. In this capacity, metabolomics can be used to investigate how a food product changes globally with food processing, to profile products to detect adulteration or misbranding or changes in nutritional profile, to better understand what flavor compounds contribute to product liking, and how dietary interventions with these food products alter the human metabolome. This data can also be correlated with other meta-data (e.g. sensory panel information, genetic analyses, microbiological and microbiome taxa) to provide additional value. In this symposium, we will provide background information on metabolomics, suitable for an audience unfamiliar with the topic, and discuss its applications in food, flavor, and nutrition.