Metabolomics is proving a useful approach for many of the main future goals in agronomy and food production such as sustainability/crop resilience, food quality, safety, storage, and nutrition. Targeted and/or untargeted small-molecule analysis, coupled to chemometric analysis, has already unveiled a great deal of the complexity of plant-based foods, but there is still ‘dark matter’ to be discovered. Moreover, state-of-the-art food metabolomics offers insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying sensorial and nutritional characteristics of foods and thus enables higher precision and speed. This review describes recent applications of food metabolomics from fork to farm and focuses on the opportunities these bring to continue food innovation and support the shift to plant-based foods.

代谢组学被证明是实现农学和食品生产的许多主要未来目标的有用方法，例如可持续性/作物恢复力、食品质量、安全性、储存和营养。靶向和/或非靶向小分子分析与化学计量分析相结合，已经揭示了植物性食品的大量复杂性，但仍有“暗物质”有待发现。此外，最先进的食物代谢组学可以深入了解食物感官和营养特征的分子机制，从而实现更高的精度和速度。本综述描述了食品代谢组学从餐桌到农场的最新应用，并重点关注这些应用带来的持续食品创新和支持向植物性食品转变的机会。