Fluorescence resonance energy transfer-based analytical methods for determination of food contaminants: A review

Abstract

The contaminants in food bring threaten to the safety of food and the health of human. It is widely known that food contaminants can usually be categorized as the follows, chemical contamination, bacterial/microbial contamination, protein contamination, parasite contamination, and fungal contamination. Nowadays the most common techniques used for food contaminants detection include gas chromatography (GC), liquid chromatography (LC), combined with single or tandem mass spectrometry (MS), namely GC-MS and LC-MS/MS, as well as near-infrared spectroscopy, ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy. Furthermore, immunochemical and rapid techniques, for example, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, lateral flow and immunoassay, and surface plasmon resonance biosensor, have also been applied to determine the food contaminants. However, these traditional approaches such as chromatographic and spectroscopic technologies show some limitations in their application for rapid food safety analysis. Therefore, it is of practical significance to develop rapid, reliable, effective, and suitable technologies for the detection of food contaminants. Recently, fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based analytical methods are widely used in determination of food contaminants due to its design flexibility, stable specificity, and high efficiency. In this review, the latest progresses of FRET-based analytical methods for the determination of food contaminants are systematically described. In addition, the mechanism of this technology, the selecting standards of donor-acceptor pairs, and the fluorescence characteristics are also summarized. This review provides crucial insights for the development of effective early warning mechanisms, management strategies, and commercial focus analysis of food contaminants based on FRET analytical methods to ensure the safety of food and the health of human.