Rapid evaporative ionisation mass spectrometry for food authenticity and beyond - A review of applications over the first decade (2014-2023).

Background: Rapid Evaporative Ionisation Mass Spectrometry (REIMS) has been used for a wide variety of applications in the food authenticity, food safety and food quality arenas, since the technique was developed. The speed of analysis, removal or reduction of sample preparation and high-quality data produced makes the instrument a valuable and sought after tool for a variety of food related applications. Scope and approach: This paper aims to review the studies published which have used REIMS for food authenticity and related applications over the last decade. The review explores the ways in which samples were introduced to the system, how the data processing workflows used were developed and undertaken, and then examines the findings of the studies to explore the utility of the system and aide researchers in understanding how REIMS may support their areas of research interest. Key findings and conclusions: REIMS has been shown to be a powerful analytical system for the detection of lipids in a variety of different solid and liquid food samples, with data analysis being capable of the relatively easy identification of statistically significant lipid species responsible for answering key authenticity questions such as determining species, geographic origin, storage conditions or production/farming system utilised.