Food metabolomics for understanding metabolite modifications in cereal products

Food metabolomics has, over the years, emerged as an effective approach for investigating complex molecular makeup and metabolome of food, offering critical insights into its quality, safety, and nutritional value. This chapter highlights the role of food metabolomics for understanding changes in metabolite composition of cereal products, which plays a key role for global food nutrition and security. The utilization of advanced analytical platforms associated with food metabolomics, either through targeted or non-targeted approaches, enables the identification and measurement of metabolites, uncovering their biochemical pathways and how they are influenced by factors such as processing, storage, and environmental conditions in a wide array of cereal products. With this information, researchers can fully understand metabolite perturbations, improve and optimize the processing conditions and techniques of cereal products, and drive innovation in the creation of functional foods.