Chapter 2. Low-resolution NMR – An analytical tool in foods characterization and traceability

BOOK PREFACE - Real foods, both those at nature disposal such one and deriving by a trasformation or conservation cycle, are extremely complex chemical-physical systems, which is why a wide range of investigative techniques is required to their study in order to obtain complementary and integrable information. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, due to its own non-invasive nature, is very suitable to investigate foods, furthermore NMR response being chacterized by a very high qualitative and quantitative information content. A cursory glance at the chapters list shows that the routine applications of different NMR techniques to various food classes have been described. In the following chapters, besides a brief description of NMR experiment basic principles (chapter 1), the different instrumental NMR techniques – low resolution NMR (chapter 2), high resolution NMR (chapters 3 and 4), solid state NMR (chapter 6), NMR imaging (v 7) – and their use in food characterization..