ABSTRACT
Food toxins of plant origin are secondary metabolites that display toxicity (acute or chronic) or have anti-nutritional effects. They act as chemical defense mechanism to safeguard the plant from fungi, bacteria and herbivores. There are inherent food toxins that exists in edible food crops and feed commodities such as glycoalkaloids (potatoes), cyanogenic glycosides (cassava), glucosinolates (Brassicaceae family), and food toxins arising in food and feed chain because of adulteration or contamination with non-edible plants products. The accidental consumption of poisonous/toxic materials in food products is not unusual in several regions of the globe. To deliver risk valuation, quality well-being, safety mechanism, well-timed life-saving care in health sector, it is very much crucial to cultivate a point-of-care method of analytical technique that can speedily recognize these food toxins in herbs in numerous composite matrices. With the overhead analytical task in notice, the accessibility of a standard technique appropriate for a widespread diversity of food toxin/matrix amalgamations would be extremely advantageous. Mass spectrometry is a flexible and resourceful recognition technique which can be employed to yield qualitative as well as quantitative data. It is extensively explored in the food safety zone, and fully executed in both routine analysis and research laboratories. This is predominantly beneficial when screening for unidentified compounds since the supplementary data delivered by the mass spectral analysis can deliver important evidences to the structure and probable distinctiveness of the compound triggering the response. It is both a selective and sensitive analytical technique whose range varies depending on the category of mass spectrometer being employed. Mass spectrometers differ as per the type of source being used (ionisation process) and the mass analyser (for separation of formed ions/fragments). Uninterrupted enhancements in the instrumentation yielded a breakthrough in the field of analytical chemistry and subsequently in food sciences. The progresses in mass spectrometry facilitated the expansion of reliable, reproducible, and robust newer approaches permitting prompt and precise analysis. The greater potential of mass spectrometry for recognition of food toxins was recognized and can further be explored. This chapter highlights the employment of mass spectrometry in simultaneous analysis of food toxins of plant origin.
