Sowing kernels for food safety: Importance of rapid on‐site detction of pesticide residues in agricultural foods

Abstract

Sustainable cultivation and safe agricultural production are needed to ensure the safety of all living organisms and ecosystems. Most agricultural foods currently contain unacceptable levels of pesticide residues. In an attempt to ensure pest control and high crop yields, farmers spray a large number of pesticides in quantities that exceed the safety limits for agricultural crops. Pesticide residues are highly toxic to humans, causing severe and even deadly diseases. Traditional analytical strategies for laboratory pesticide detection are often limited because they are time-consuming and require trained personnel, which makes them very costly. Hence, accurate, rapid, and on-site analysis of pesticides is drawing increasing attention for food safety reasons. Therefore, on-site or point-of-care (POC) detection of pesticide residues has become an approach of paramount importance. Recently, various portable detection technologies, such as colorimetric, fluorescence, electrochemical, surface plasmon resonance, chemiluminescence, phosphorescence, microfluidic, and surface-enhanced Raman scattering techniques, have been designed for on-site monitoring of pesticide residues in vegetables and fruits. These devices have demonstrated great power of detection in preclinical agricultural settings. This review highlights the emerging insights and novel advances in portable devices, POC technologies, and on-site sensing approaches for the detection of pesticide residues in agricultural foods. However, greater rigor in the design of portable pesticide-detection devices is essential.The increasing demand for rapid detection of hazardous pesticide components has prompted a timely opportunity to summarize recent developments and progress in portable devices and on-site sensing strategies to evaluate food safety.

Flow Injection Analysis-Based Electrochemiluminescence: An Overview of Experimental Design and Its Biosensing Applications

“…Even though, there have been plethora electrochemical-based methods developed for detection of immune assays, 99 DNA analysis, 100 drugs, 101 pesticides, [102][103][104][105] biomolecules, [106][107][108] air contaminants, 109,110 and heavy metal ions. 101 Among those, the FIA-ECL based method is highly sensitive towards various sensor applications due to its low back ground noise, flow of analyte avoids ECS Sensors Plus, 2022 1 031604 the byproducts accumulation on electrode surface, low cost, and easy to operate.…”

Recent Advancements in Nanobiosensors: Current Trends, Challenges, Applications, and Future Scope

“…Nanomaterials find application in almost all fields of science and technology. Nanomaterial synthesis is essential for sensing, testing, and diagnostic applications [ 15 , 16 , 17 ].…”

Review—Emerging Trends in the Development of Electrochemical Devices for the On-Site Detection of Food Contaminants

“…Characteristically, these are very costly large instruments with complex operational procedures, and they require time-taking sample detection procedures and professional manpower; they also restrict sample preconcentration procedures. [5][6][7][8][9][10][11] Hitherto, despite their outreach, these conventional strategies are being constrained within sophisticated laboratories. These limitations make them suitable for real-time, point-of-care (POC), in situ, and on-site detection.…”

“…These devices are fast, economic, simple, and portable analytical techniques; these characteristics have helped them gain considerable attention for the on-site detection of various food contaminants. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]12 Among the various sensing strategies, colorimetric, fluorescence, and electrochemical assays are widely used candidates for the detection of contaminants. [3][4][5][6][7]9 These assays exhibited great promise for food quality and food safety, which are highly suitable for the execution of onsite sensing of food contaminants, especially in the resource-limited settings.…”

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]12 Among the various sensing strategies, colorimetric, fluorescence, and electrochemical assays are widely used candidates for the detection of contaminants. [3][4][5][6][7]9 These assays exhibited great promise for food quality and food safety, which are highly suitable for the execution of onsite sensing of food contaminants, especially in the resource-limited settings. Actually, up to now, onsite sensing strategies are still designated as significant desirable assays for simply attaining accurate information about the contaminants in foods, both rapidly and at the point of care.…”