Improved food additive analysis by ever-increasing nanotechnology

Jing Zhang ^a,1, Shui Hu ^a,1, Yi Du ^b, Ding Cao ^a, Guirong Wang ^a, Zhiqin Yuan ^a,b,*

a State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, College of Chemistry, College of Material Science and Engineering, Beijing

University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China

b Department of Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Phosphorus Chemistry & Chemical Biology (Ministry of Education), Tsinghua

University, Beijing 100084, China

Improper use of food additives may lead to potential threat to human health, making it important to develop sensitive and selective method for the detection of them. Nanomaterials with unique chemical and electrochemical properties show extensive applications in the design of food additive sensing systems. In this review, we summarize the recently adopted electrochemical and optical analysis of food additives based on nanomaterials. Detection of typical food additives (colorants and preservatives) by using different sensing mechanisms and strategies are provided. In addition, determination of illegal food additives is also briefly introduced. Finally, this review highlights the challenges and future trend of nanomaterial-based food analysis system.

Keywords: Nanomaterials, Food colorants, Food preservatives, Illegal additives, Detection

https://doi.org/10.38212/2224-6614.1152