Proposing processomics as the methodology of food quality monitoring: reconceptualization, opportunities, and challenges

Empirical single-response targeted approaches encounter challenges for quality evaluation-based process design and optimization, particularly in cases where novel processing techniques are employed. Processomics is recently proposed through integrating chemical fingerprinting and kinetic modeling in the context of food processing and preservation. At present, processomics mainly considers the headspace volatilome characterized by headspace solid-phase microextraction coupled to gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, thus contributing to biases in chemical fingerprinting. It is hypothesized that major quality attributes influenced by processes-induced chemical reactions can be designated through mapping-related chemical network and markers. Correspondingly, we propose the incorporation of other omics technology platforms, including liposomics, peptidomics, and proteomics, to provide the overall perspectives of the variations in chemical fingerprinting responding to the impact of extrinsic processing variables, followed by kinetic mechanistic modeling of the identified chemical markers pointing to quality-related reactions. Particularly, considering the complexity of flavor perception, sensomics can also be introduced as a special dimension of quality assessment.