Chapter 3. Protein-based Omics in Food Science

In recent decades, the increase in performance and versatility of mass spectrometric instrumentation has contributed to development of new analytical strategies for protein characterization. In particular, MS-based approaches have demonstrated their enormous potential in the characterization of the complex protein mixtures contained in food. Proteins are essential elements in the human diet. The investigation of the protein fraction of foodstuffs, including protein functionality (presence of bioactive peptides), origin (food traceability) and safety (e.g. absence of allergens, pathogens, etc.) is fundamental for understanding the relationship between protein content and the nutritional and technological properties of food, and, consequently, the influence of food proteins on the health of end-consumers. This chapter will give a brief description of MS-based techniques, proteomic approaches and bioinformatic tools for protein identification as well the most relevant aspects of the MS-based methodologies in food proteomics with their advantages and drawbacks.