Over the past years the importance of the determination of isotope contents, stable (¹⁸O, ²H, ¹³C, ¹⁵N) and radiocarbon (¹⁴C), for the verification of the origin and authenticity of food and food additives has grown significantly. Applying isotope methods to food analysis can provide information about the geographic origin of food, authenticity of food and food additives (undeclared additives and/or verification of purity), as well as compliance with legal regulations and treaty agreements.The isotopic composition of plants reflects the environmental regime in which they grow giving the possibility of isotopically labelled natural products. For example the differect photosynthetic pathway (C3, C4 or CAM) is one of the rules that control the δ¹³C values in natural sugars. Furthermore radiocarbon (¹⁴C) values in alcohol discriminate fraud events. The information resulting from the development of isotopic techniques in natural products concern:

• The determination of the geographical origin of products
• The labelling of products (traceability-authentication)
• The development of new improved products following the legal provisions