Our introductory article “A Paradigm Shift: From “Sample to Laboratory” to “Laboratory to Sample” describes the current situation:
There are several major drivers for this paradigm shift:
- Due to miniaturization and technology evolvement, many testing devices no longer occupy a large space in the laboratory.
- Several newer devices do not need sample preparation or sample preparation is automated and build into the device.
- Testing devices provide, often based on cloud computing, output that no longer requires scientists to interpret results – results are displayed in way they can be acted upon (e.g. “contains forbidden chemical X”)
This is leading to a shift of the first line of (analytical) defense from the laboratory to manufacturers sites, e.g. at raw material reception, where such portable, often handheld devices can quickly check if the material that is being received matches a given profile.
But this is not only a tool for food manufacturers and raw material buyers. It can also be used by food inspectors, auditors, and competent authorities to control quality and safety of products rapidly and with little cost, and without having to send random samples to the laboratory.
These portable devices enable users to perform smart-sampling, i.e. scan a sample (e.g. raw material) for it’s profile and if it deviates, send it to a laboratory to identify the deviating components, which could be an adulterant or contaminant.
As guest editor for the the Special Section of the Journal of AOAC international, Carmen Diaz-Amigo and Bert Popping have compiled the recent key innovations in this area and gathered the experts contributors to this issue.
A big "thank you" goes to all contributors to this special section:
- Yannick Weesepoel
- Martin Alewijn
- Michiel Wijtten
- Judith Müller-Maatsch
- Terence F McGrath
- Maeve Shannon
- Olivier P Chevallier
- Ratnasekhar Ch
- Fei Xu
- Fanzhou Kong
- Hong Peng
- Ernest Teye
- Selorm Akaba
- Di Wu
- Libiao Wu
- Qiang Cai
- Doan Duy Le Nguyen
- Van Viet Man Le
- Sufyan Pandor
- Arun P Kapil
- Guangtao Zhang
- Mary McBride
- Christopher T Elliott
- Mei-Ling Shotts
- Marcal Plans
- Kevin Wong
- Alex M Milligan
- Didem P Aykas
- Luis E Rodriguez-Saona
- Ronald W Sarver
- David J Almy
- Eric R Bergeron
- Benjamin F Strong
- Brent A Steiner
- Robert Donofrio
- Anthony J Lupo
- R Lucas Gray
- Amanda K Sperry
- Carmen Diaz-Amigo
- Bert Popping
- Kai Pumpa
- Markus Lacorn
- Michael Mättner
- David Steinmann
- Jasmin Wolf
- Diogo B Gonçalves
- Carla S P Santos
- Teresa Pinho
- Rafael Queirós
- Pedro D Vaz
- Mark Bloore
- Paolo Satta
- Zoltán Kovács
- Susana Casal
- Isabel Hoffmann
- Rebeca Cruz
The guest-edited section has now been published in the Journal of AOAC, issue 104, 2021.
