Nonetheless, the drawbacks of these techniques have been already discussed

Nonetheless, the drawbacks of these techniques have been already discussed. New technologies have been designed to overcome the disadvantages of analytical methods for biological food hazards detection. is usually therefore to fill this space and spotlight the multidisciplinary aspects involved in the application of imprinting technology in the whole value chain ranging from IP preparation to integrated sensor systems for the specific acknowledgement and quantification of chemical and microbiological contaminants in food samples. species, and some of the most generally involved foodborne pathogens [3,153]. The detection of these microorganisms is typically carried out via culture and colony counting, polymerase chain reaction (based on the amplification and quantification of the microorganisms DNA) and immunology-based methods [154,155,156,157]. The disadvantages of these strategies are that colony counting can be highly time-consuming and error-prone, while polymerase GDNF chain reaction methods usually require expensive gear and reactants as well as specialized technical skills for performing them [158,159]. Finally, immunology techniques may require from hours to days to provide a result [160]. Certain types of bacteria are able to produce toxins, molecules that are also secondary metabolites of some fungi and symbolize a food safety hazard [161,162,163]. Their adverse health effects can vary; while some toxins such as staphylococcal can cause enteric illness, aflatoxins (produced by fungi) are Tafamidis (Fx1006A) known for being carcinogenic [164,165]. The detection of these brokers is usually thus crucial for preventing foodborne outbreaks. Typically, these biological derived contaminants are detected via protocols that consists Tafamidis (Fx1006A) of time consuming extraction from the food matrix followed by pre-concentration actions and liquid or gas chromatography for their quantification [166]. Foodborne viruses are capable of infecting intestinal cells and are shed in the stool Tafamidis (Fx1006A) [167]. Noroviruses and Hepatitis A are the most common cause of viral foodborne disease, causing gastroenteritis and hepatitis, respectively [168]. Typically, they are detected by the scanning of a stool suspension under an electron microscope. This protocol, however, is usually insensitive and labor-intensive [169]. Immunoassays are available for the detection of some viruses [170,171], as Tafamidis (Fx1006A) well as transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction [172,173]. Nonetheless, the drawbacks of these techniques have been already discussed. New technologies have been developed to overcome the disadvantages of analytical methods for biological food hazards detection. Imprinted polymers have been extensively researched for the extraction of toxins, which has also led to the application of these synthetic receptors in sensors [174,175,176,177]. Furthermore, bacteria detection using IPs in sensing devices has also been exploited [28,30,178,179,180]. The use of synthetic receptors as acknowledgement element in food safety sensing exhibits the potential of becoming a fast, sensitive and cost-effective technology in contrast to the traditional analytical methods [181,182,183]. 4.1. Imprinting Technology for the Acknowledgement of Biological Food Hazards As mentioned above, the affinity of imprinted polymers relies on a combination of functionality and geometry between the targeted analyte and the receptor. In the acknowledgement of biological targets, geometry plays a crucial role in the selection of the material to be employed for IP preparation. While some biological analytes allow the use of classical molecularly imprinting strategies due to their small sizes and low molecular weights (e.g., toxins and viruses), larger ones represent a challenge. Bacteria, for instance, are microorganisms with sizes up to several microns depending on the taxonomic groups [184]. To ensure these themes removal and rebinding, the synthesis of the receptor should allow the surface imprinting of the material [185]. This section is usually subdivided into the biological food hazards categories that have been detected using IPs. A summary of these agents, as well as the exemplification of the imprinting technologies employed for their acknowledgement in food samples, is discussed. 4.1.1. Toxins The most straightforward method of detecting microbial contamination in food is the detection of the toxins they produce as, these are often relatively small molecules which makes it possible to detect them with MIPs (Table 4). Sergeyeva et al. produced functional polymeric membranes that functioned as synthetic receptors for the mycotoxin Aflatoxin B1. Ethyl-2-oxocyclopentanecarboxylate.