Rapidly growing trends in laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy for food analysis

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is a simple, rapid, and sensitive analytical technique that has been employed in a number of scientific disciplines (e.g., chemistry, physics, geology, engineering, material science, polymer science, environmental science, and metallurgy) for almost two decades. LIBS became vastly popular in industry, especially in steel, automobile, and aircraft manufacturing due to the availability of portable instruments and rapid analysis. As the technique can be employed for simultaneously analyzing both light and heavy elements, LIBS has attracted global attention for its food analysis capabilities to characterize micronutrients, essential constituents, and toxicants present in food items. No other technique provides such comprehensive analytical data in a short period of time without any substantial sample treatment. This paper reviews applications of LIBS for food analysis in recent years and discusses its potential to advance the characterization of components in food.