Rapid analysis of food products by means of high speed gas chromatography

Since the invention of GC, there has been an ever increasing interest within the chromatographic community for faster GC methods. This is obviously related to the fact that the number of samples subjected to GC analysis has risen greatly. Nowadays, in routine analytical applications, sample throughput is often the most important aspect considered when choosing an analytical method. Gas chromatographic instrumentation, especially in the last decade, has been subjected to continuous and considerable improvement. High-speed injection systems, electronic gas pressure control, rapid oven heating/cooling and fast detection are currently available in a variety of commercial gas chromatographs. The main consequence of this favourable aspect is that high-speed GC is being increasingly employed for routine analysis in different fields. Furthermore, the employment of dedicated software makes the passage from a conventional to a fast GC method a rather simple step. The present review provides an over-view of the employment of fast GC techniques for the analysis of food constituents and contaminants. A brief historical and theoretical background is also provided for the approaches described.