AOAC INTERNATIONAL (AOAC) is proposing a new multi-year program funded by stakeholders to collaboratively address current and newly emerging analytical needs applicable to novel foods from alternative protein sources. This program is designed to provide food manufacturers, testing laboratories, NGOs, researchers, regulators and retail establishments with the analytical resources necessary to ensure product safety and quality, including accurate nutritional information for food labeling and standards for global trade.
Building upon AOAC’s compilation of previously published analyte-specific Standard Method Performance Requirements (SMPRs®) and fit-for-purpose Official Methods of AnalysisSM, the Novel Foods program will offer a multi-faceted approach that encompasses the following workstreams:
Sign up for the Novel Foods Working Group: amino acids and total protein methods
Recently, there has been a significant focus on the introduction of novel foods from alternative protein sources, such as cell-, fermentation-, insect-, plant-, fungi- or algae-based alternatives to traditional food ingredients and products. This has brought new challenges in terms of new matrices and/or analytes that need to be tested to assess the quality and safety of these novel foods. In addition, they also challenge traditional analytical approaches, such as the analysis of protein content. However, this challenge presents an opportunity to improve the current methodology and approaches for all food types, not just the novel ones.
Determination of protein content and evaluation of protein quality are essential for novel foods because they are often compared to traditional foods based on their protein content and protein digestibility values. In routine analysis, protein content is typically determined using total nitrogen (Kjeldahl or Dumas) methods employing nitrogen-to-protein conversion factors to obtain crude protein content in the given sample types. These methods are well-established and suited for routine testing due to their relatively low complexity and cost, but they suffer from problems, such as inclusion of non-protein nitrogen-containing compounds or the use of inaccurate conversion factors. The former is a well-known issue even for traditional foods and could lead to overestimation of the protein content and, consequently, inaccurate food labeling. Moreover, it is also susceptible to potential adulteration with nitrogen-rich compounds, such as the infamous case of melamine.
Novel food matrices may bring additional challenges in terms of unknown or uncharacterized non-protein nitrogen sources, such as chitin in insect-based products and ingredients. Conversion factors are problematic for any composite foods and are yet to be established for the myriad of novel foods and ingredients in order to use a total nitrogen method for their routine protein content analysis. A reliable reference method(s) for the determination of protein based on the sum of amino acids is needed for that purpose.
As recommended by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), protein should be measured as the sum of amino acids whenever possible, with this being the only suitable approach for the analysis of sole-source foods, such as infant formula, and novel foods.[1] Furthermore, amino acid analysis is also important for assessment of protein quality.
In addition to the accurate protein determination and evaluation of protein quality, there are other method gaps and concerns related to novel foods, including safety concerns, which require adequate analytical methods for both targeted and non-targeted analysis of various chemical contaminants, residues, toxins, allergens, antinutrients, additives as well as microbial contaminants. Moreover, suitable testing approaches are needed for verification of authenticity of the various protein sources as well as alternatives to animal-based methods for different toxicological and other assessments, including protein quality evaluation.
Consensus on method requirements, development of guidelines and introduction of new standardized methods and approaches are essential to address these challenges. For existing methods, it is important to ensure that they are applicable to the novel matrices through matrix-specific method validations. AOAC INTERNATIONAL has recognized these needs and embarked on creating a new program focused on novel foods from alternative protein sources, with the first project proposed to develop voluntary consensus standard(s) for total amino acid analysis in selected food products and ingredients.
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[1]Food Energy – Methods of Analysis and Conversion Factors, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2003, ISSN 0254-4725 (Report of a technical workshop, Rome, 3-6 December 2002)
