Contaminants in food: analytical problems and achievements

In evaluating the toxicological significance of such contaminants as trace metals, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, mycotoxins, pesticides and nitrosamines, analytical chemistry plays an important role. The detection and identification of these in various foods at the mg/kg or mug/kg levels has posed some difficult analytical problems. Considerable progress has been made in this field in the past decade, however, an opportunity is taken to review the achievements in terms of specificity and sensitivity for each class of contaminant.