PTFI was featured in The Analytical Chemist’s Special Edition on “Mass Spectrometry in 2025: Trends, Challenges, and Change”.
Specifically, PTFI is highlighted in a write-up by Susan Richardson, former ASMS president, about the current trends and challenges for the field.
“They’re analyzing metals, nutrients – pretty much everything – in order to determine all of the chemicals in our food. It’s not as simple as a proteomics or metabolomics exercise, but a broader, more comprehensive look at the diversity of compounds in our foods. The rationale is that some foods are far more nutritious than others, and we need a clearer, more complete picture of that. Nobody’s really mapped this out before, so the developments have been very exciting to follow. The big questions to ask are: Should we really be so monoculturistic? What do we need to do to improve our health and nutrition? That’s the goal of this work, rethinking what we’re eating and why.”
The Periodic Table of Food Initiative (PTFI), supported by the Rockefeller Foundation, aims to map the full chemical makeup of our food. Unlike typical metabolomics or proteomics, it takes a comprehensive approach, analyzing nutrients, metals, and other compounds to reveal food’s true diversity. The goal is to understand which foods are most nutritious and to challenge monoculture farming by rethinking what we eat and why.
