Målämnen

Målämnen, literally “target substances” in Swedish, is a term used primarily in analytical and regulatory contexts to refer to substances selected as the focus of measurement, reporting, or control. In analytical chemistry, målämnen are the chemicals that a method is designed to detect and quantify within a sample. The selection depends on risk, regulatory requirements, and scientific interest. Methods can be targeted analyses, such as LC-MS/MS or GC-MS, which quantify predefined målämnen, or non-targeted approaches that search for unexpected substances. In environmental monitoring, typical målämnen include pesticides, heavy metals, persistent organic pollutants, and pharmaceutical residues, chosen for their potential health or ecological impact and for their regulatory relevance. The reported concentrations of målämnen are used to assess exposure, compliance with standards, and trends over time.

The criteria for selecting målämnen vary by jurisdiction and application, but common considerations include toxicity, occurrence, persistence, and analytical feasibility. Results are presented with measures of uncertainty and detection limits. In practice, the term emphasizes the intent to track specific substances rather than catalog all constituents of a sample.

In a broader, non-scientific Swedish usage, målämnen can also refer to topics or issues that are the focus of discussions, policies, or learning goals, though this usage is less formal than in analytical contexts.