Molecularly Imprinted Polymer as an Antibody Substitution in Pseudo-immunoassays for Chemical Contaminants in Food and Environmental Samples.

The growing concern about chemical contaminants in food has increased the need for a rapid, selective, and cost-efficient sensing technology. Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) have emerged as potential artificial sensing elements owing to their high sensitivity, stability, selectivity, and reproducibility. Recent advances further highlight the growing role of computational tools, including molecular docking, molecular dynamics (MD), quantum chemical calculations (QC), and molecular mechanics (MM), in rational MIP design. These methods guide the rational selection of monomers, solvents, and cross-linkers by predicting their effects on template interactions, solvent polarity, and cavity stability, thereby minimizing trial and error in MIP design. This review presents a comprehensive overview of recent progress in MIP-based sensors for the detection of chemical contaminants in food, emphasizing experimental and computational perspectives. In addition, this review covers chromatography-integrated MIP systems, where imprinted polymers are used as selective recognition elements within separation-based methods for food contaminant analysis. The reviewed platforms enable not only sensitive detection but also reliable quantification of food contaminants across diverse matrices. Special focus is given to case studies that demonstrate the applications of MIPs in food analysis and the role of in silico strategies in optimizing sensor performance. By bridging experimental innovation with a computational design, this review aims to provide researchers with an integrated framework for developing next-generation sensing platforms that are selective, sensitive, and practical for real-world food safety monitoring.

Environmental chemical contaminants in food seriously impact human health and food safety. Successful detection methods can effectively monitor the potential risk of emerging chemical contaminants. Among them, molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) based on electrochemical biomimetic sensors overcome many drawbacks of conventional detection methods and offer opportunities to detect contaminants with simple equipment in an efficient, sensitive, and low-cost manner. We searched eligible papers through the Web of Science (2000-2022) and PubMed databases. Then, we introduced the sensing mechanism of MIPs, outlined the sample preparation methods, and summarized the MIP characterization and performance. The classification of electrochemistry, as well as its advantages and disadvantages, are also discussed. Furthermore, the representative application of MIP-based electrochemical biomimetic sensors for detecting small molecular chemical contaminants, such as antibiotics, pesticides, toxins, food additives, illegal additions, organic pollutants, and heavy metal ions in food, is demonstrated. Finally, the conclusions and future perspectives are summarized and discussed.

Analysis of 20 year data for the assessment of dietary exposure to chemical contaminants in the region of Thessaly, Greece

Emerging strategies to enhance the sensitivity of competitive ELISA for detection of chemical contaminants in food samples

Chemical contaminants in food generally include natural toxins (mycotoxins, animal toxins, and phytotoxins), pesticides, veterinary drugs, environmental pollutants, heavy metals, and illegal additives. Developing a low-cost, simple, and rapid detection technology for harmful substances in food is urgently needed. Analytical methods based on different advanced materials have been developed into rapid detection methods for food samples. In particular, photonic crystal (PC) materials have a unique surface periodic structure, structural color, a large surface area, easy integration with photoelectronic and magnetic devices which have great advantages in the development of rapid, low-cost, and highly sensitive analytical methods. This review focuses on the PC materials in the view of their fabrication processes, functionalized recognition components for the specific recognition of hazardous substances, and applications in the separation, enrichment, and detection of chemical hazards in real samples. Suspension array based on three-dimensional PC microspheres by droplet-based microfluidic assembly is a great promising and powerful platform for food safety detection fields. For the PCs selective analysis, biological antibodies, aptamers, and molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) could be modified for specific recognition of target substances, particularly MIPs because of their low-cost and easy mass production. Based on these functional PCs, various toxic and hazardous substances can be selectively enriched or recognized in real samples and further quantified in combination of liquid chromatography method or optical detection methods including fluorescence, chemiluminescence, and Raman spectroscopy.

Referee: Dr. Michael Voldrich, Dept. of Food Preservation and Meat Technology, Institute of Chemical Technology, Technicka 3, 166 28 Praha 7, Czech RepublicHazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) is a systematic approach to the identification, assessment, and control of hazards that was developed as an effective alternative to conventional end-point analysis to control food safety. It has been described as the most effective means of controlling foodborne diseases, and its application to the control of microbiological hazards has been accepted internationally. By contrast, relatively little has been reported relating to the potential use of HACCP, or HACCP-like procedures, to control chemical contaminants of food. This article presents an overview of the implementation of HACCP and discusses its application to the control of organic chemical contaminants in the food chain. Although this is likely to result in many of the advantages previously identified for microbiological HACCP, that is, more effective, efficient, and economical hazard management, a number of areas are identified that require further research and development. These include: (1) a need to refine the methods of chemical contaminant identification and risk assessment employed, (2) develop more cost-effective monitoring and control methods for routine chemical contaminant surveillance of food, and (3) improve the effectiveness of process optimization for the control of chemical contaminants in food.

Detection and characterization of engineered nano-materials and other chemical contaminants in foods||Detection and characterization of engineered nano-materials and other chemical contaminants in foods

Desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry in the analysis of chemical food contaminants in food

In the late 1930s and early 1940s, almost the only analyses carried out for chemical contaminants in foods were for lead arsenate and other arsenical pesticides in fruits. Since then, a tremendous expansion has occurred in the types of chemical contaminants found in foods and in the activities of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other organizations responsible for monitoring and controlling the presence of these contaminants in the food supply. This paper describes the findings and control of additional chemical contaminants in foods, including synthetic pesticides, PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), other industrial chemicals, fungal metabolites such as aflatoxins, toxic metals, and radionuclides. The common characteristics of problems connected with these different types of contaminants include uncontrolled entry into the food supply, incidents causing extreme public worry, and near impossibility in removing these contaminants from the food supply. Problems may also arise from new technologies and environmental developments. New approaches beyond ordinary regulatory activities are being used to meet these problems. Broader analytical methods requiring less time and faster and more sophisticated toxicological methods are needed to assess the hazard of these environmental food contaminants.

Introduction. Maintaining health of the younger generation is one of the priority activities of Rospotrebnadzor bodies and governmental policy. Environmental factors, including chemical contamination of food, play an important role in health preservation. A constant intake of contaminants, even in small concentrations, causes malfunctioning of body organs and systems. Our objective was a comparative analysis of relationship between baby food contamination and disease incidence in children. Materials and methods. We analyzed data of the Federal information Fund of Social and Hygienic Monitoring of the Russian Federation. Results. The analysis of chemical contamination of baby food established that the main food toxicants included lead, cadmium, arsenic, and mercury. The contamination data in the areas were compared with disease incidence rates in the child population. We did a comparative analysis of contamination of food products intended for children aged 0 to 14 and changes in disease incidence rates in children of the same age in the Russian Federation in 2012–2017. The highest concentrations of heavy metals were measured in fruit and vegetable products used as first baby food by most mothers. We found a relationship between toxic elements in baby food and cancer incidence rates in children aged 0 to 14 (r = 0.27; p ≤ 0.05). Conclusion. Measures taken to reduce baby food contamination with chemicals will contribute to prevention and a decrease in disease incidence rates in children.

Increases in food production and the ever-present threat of food contamination from microbiological and chemical sources have led the food industry and regulators to pursue rapid, inexpensive methods of analysis to safeguard the health and safety of the consumer. Although sophisticated techniques such as chromatography and spectrometry provide more accurate and conclusive results, screening tests allow a much higher throughput of samples at a lower cost and with less operator training, so larger numbers of samples can be analysed. Biosensors combine a biological recognition element (enzyme, antibody, receptor) with a transducer to produce a measurable signal proportional to the extent of interaction between the recognition element and the analyte. The different uses of the biosensing instrumentation available today are extremely varied, with food analysis as an emerging and growing application. The advantages offered by biosensors over other screening methods such as radioimmunoassay, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, fluorescence immunoassay and luminescence immunoassay, with respect to food analysis, include automation, improved reproducibility, speed of analysis and real-time analysis. This article will provide a brief footing in history before reviewing the latest developments in biosensor applications for analysis of food contaminants (January 2007 to December 2010), focusing on the detection of pathogens, toxins, pesticides and veterinary drug residues by biosensors, with emphasis on articles showing data in food matrices. The main areas of development common to these groups of contaminants include multiplexing, the ability to simultaneously analyse a sample for more than one contaminant and portability. Biosensors currently have an important role in food safety; further advances in the technology, reagents and sample handling will surely reinforce this position.

Data on the incidence and levels of chemical contaminants in foods are needed for continuous assessment of the safety of the food supply and to inform the public about the safety of food. A larger share of the total analytical resource--federal and state government, private sector, and academia--could profitably be directed to collection and publication of data on the occurrence of chemical contaminants in foods. The quest for more data must be accompanied by measures to ensure data reliability and comparability and to estimate the uncertainty of measurements. Research to improve the efficiency of analysis may be the top priority for future methods improvement studies. Analytical chemistry will continue to be an essential factor in assuring a safe food supply and in communicating to the public accurate information and conclusions about food safety.

Application of ultraviolet (UV) irradiation for the degradation of chemical contaminants in food products has gained more and more interest in the past two decades. The majority of the research in this field was on mycotoxins, especially aflatoxins and patulin, with limited studies on pesticide residues and other chemical contaminants in food. These studies have been focused on identifying the structure and toxicity of degradation products, investigating the influence of UV treatment factors on the degradation efficiency, determining the impact of UV treatment on the quality of food products, and developing updated UV treatment methods such as TiO2 induced photocatalytic degradation. The summary of published literatures provided insights into future research opportunities in this area, which include determining a standard for the UV treatment description, working with naturally contaminated samples rather than artificially spiked samples, conducting pilot plant or industrial scale studies, examining more targets and conducting multi-targets studies, and developing more innovative methods for UV treatment.

Screening and identification of unknown chemical contaminants in food based on liquid chromatography–high-resolution mass spectrometry and machine learning

Molecularly imprinted core-shell Au nanoparticles for 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid detection in milk using surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy