Immunoanalytical approaches for the control of xenobiotics and biotoxins in food

Abstract

Analytical methods are required to effectively ensure food quality and safety. A reliable determination of any harmful substance potentially present in a food product is mandatory before it reaches the consumer. One of the analytical approaches that nowadays contributes to attaining this goal includes a series of techniques that use antibodies as essential elements for the detection of the target analyte, which collectively are known as immunochemical methods. This article aims to provide a basic overview of the biochemical principles underlying these technologies and their benefits and limitations for the determination of chemical contaminants, residues and additives in food matrices. In the last section, some of our initiatives in this field that resulted in commercially available rapid kits following technology transfer to the industrial sector are discussed.