Bioassay

A bioassay measures a substance’s biological activity by testing its effects on living material — a cell culture, tissue preparation or whole organism. In food science, bioassays quantify vitamin activity, toxin potency, hormone-like effects, or antimicrobial action where chemical analysis alone cannot capture biological impact, since a compound’s presence does not equal its physiological effect. They bridge analytical chemistry and real physiological relevance, though they demand careful standardisation of the test organism, ethical review for animal use, and validation against reference methods. Modern bioassays increasingly use cell-based and molecular readouts to reduce animal testing while preserving biological meaning.