Nanomaterials Enabled and Bio/Chemical Analytical Sensors for Acrylamide Detection in Thermally Processed Foods: Advances and Outlook

Abstract

Acrylamide, a food processing contaminant with demonstrated genotoxicity, carcinogenicity, and reproductive toxicity, is largely present in numerous prominent and commonly consumed food products that are produced by thermal processing methods. Food regulatory bodies such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (U.S. FDA) and European Union Commission regulations have disseminated various acrylamide mitigation strategies in food processing practices. Hence, in the wake of such food and public health safety efforts, there is a rising demand for economic, rapid, and portable detection and quantification methods for these contaminants. Since conventional quantification techniques like liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) methods are expensive and have many drawbacks, sensing platforms with various transduction systems have become an efficient alternative tool for quantifying various target molecules in a wide variety of food samples. Therefore, this present review discusses in detail the state of robust, nanomaterials-based and other bio/chemical sensor fabrication techniques, the sensing mechanism, and the selective qualitative and quantitative measurement of acrylamide in various food materials. The discussed sensors use analytical measurements ranging from diverse and disparate optical, electrochemical, as well as piezoelectric methods. Further, discussions about challenges and also the potential development of the lab-on-chip applications for acrylamide detection and quantification are entailed at the end of this review.

Detection of Acrylamide in Foodstuffs by Nanobody-Based Immunoassays

“…In 2015, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) regulated that the amount of AA in potato crisps should be below the indicative value of 1000 μg/kg . However, the reference level for AA in potato crisps was monitored as 750 μg/kg by the European Union (EU) . Therefore, given its toxicity and high pollution levels, a rapid, portable, and highly sensitive detection method for AA would be helpful in monitoring the safety of foodstuffs more conveniently and making dietary exposure assessment with more extensive coverage.…”

Ratiometric Fluorescent Metal–Organic Framework Biosensor for Ultrasensitive Detection of Acrylamide

“…Acrylamide (AA) has been categorized as a “class 2A carcinogen” by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), owing to its neurotoxicity, genotoxicity, and carcinogenicity. , AA is produced by the Maillard reaction of asparagine and reducing sugar in food during food thermal processing over 120 °C, especially in baking and fried food, such as crisps, toasted bread, and biscuits among others. , The human body might easily absorb AA through the skin, digestive tract, and respiratory tract. Long-term exposure to AA causes genetic material damage and genetic mutations, resulting in a variety of detrimental effects on consumers’ health. , The European Union (EU) specified the maximum residue levels of AA in foodstuffs including biscuits, crisps, roast coffee, and breakfast cereals to be 300–850 μg·kg –1 …”

“…1,2 AA is produced by the Maillard reaction of asparagine and reducing sugar in food during food thermal processing over 120 °C, especially in baking and fried food, such as crisps, toasted bread, and biscuits among others. 3,4 The human body might easily absorb AA through the skin, digestive tract, and respiratory tract. Long-term exposure to AA causes genetic material damage and genetic mutations, resulting in a variety of detrimental effects on consumers' health.…”

Nanozyme‐encoded luminescent detection for food safety analysis: An overview of mechanisms and recent applications

“…To motivate the rapid and steady growth of the food industry, improving the food quality and safety detection technologies is one of the necessary requirements. Although tremendous progress in exploiting instrumental analytical technologies for the detection of food contaminants has been witnessed (Agrimonti et al., 2019; Chiesa et al., 2017; Fornal & Montowska, 2019; Gil et al., 2022), the intricate sample pretreatment and precise instrument restricted their in‐depth application in food quality and safety in the ever‐growing food industry (Rayappa et al., 2021). Consequently, practical‐oriented food analytical technologies exploitation should be focused on some rapid, economic, and sensitive methods.…”