About this Research Topic
Food safety issue has received global concern attributed to its severe threat on economic losses, human health, and life happiness. Mycotoxins, regarded as one of the most prominent and prevalent toxic food contaminants, are the secondary metabolites of fungi occurred in a variety of food commodities, including cereals, maize, vegetables, fruits, milk, peanuts, oils, and processed products. Generally, hundreds of mycotoxins identified and isolated are categorized into aflatoxins (AFB1, AFM1), ochratoxins (OTA), fumonisins (FB1), zearalenone (ZEN), deoxynivalenol (DON), and T-2 toxin according to their wide distribution and high carcinogenicity. The mycotoxins contaminated food commodities directly or indirectly are transferred to human’s body, thus causing a lot of irreversible damages to human health because of its severely carcinogenic, mutagenic, neurotraumatic, teratogenic, and immunosuppressive properties. Correspondingly, many countries and organizations, such as the European Commission (EC), U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), China, Japan etc., have officially regulated the maximum residue levels (MRLs) at ultra-low level down to Pico per milliliter (ppt) toward certain mycotoxins in food commodities. Taking the extraordinary occurrence, severe threat, and low MRLs into consideration, hence, it is of great importance and urgency to develop low-cost, rapid, portable, accurate, reliable, sensitive and specific protocols for detection even trace levels of mycotoxin.
Current approaches against mycotoxins focused on the high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (LC–MS), as well as enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA). Nevertheless, these technologies suffer from the drawbacks such as complex pretreatment processes, bulky instruments and professional operators, making them labor-intensive, time-consuming, high-cost, and unable to achieve rapid point-of-care testing. As an emerging sensing strategy, biosensors and chemosensors have opened up an innovative platform for monitoring and tracing levels of mycotoxins due to their easy operation, low cost, rapid response, flexible design, accurate determination, high sensitivity and selectivity, as well as the promising potential in commercialization. This research topic focuses on the advanced biosensors and chemosensors for mycotoxins control in various food and food commodities. We invite submissions in terms of original research, critical reviews, and perspectives with quality, novelty, and significance that fall within this area.
Biosensing and Chemosensing theory, mechanisms, design, and detection principles toward mycotoxins like aflatoxins (AFB1, AFM1), ochratoxins (OTA), fumonisins (FB1), zearalenone (ZEN), deoxynivalenol (DON) and T-2 toxin, etc. in cereals, maize, vegetables, fruits, milk, peanuts, oils, and processed products, including but not limited to:
-Aptamer screening and characterization
-Aptamer-based extraction and enrichment
-Immunosensors and aptasensors
-Optical biosensors and chemosensors
-Electrochemical biosensors and chemosensors
-Nanomaterials-based biosensors and chemosensors
-Nanosensors, enzymes sensors, microfluidic chip, lab-on-a-chip, handled meters detection, smartphone detection, wearable point-of-care testing, miniaturized devices, integrated and incorporated devices.
-Other recent research advances in mycotoxin-related sensing applications.
The work described should be innovative both in the mechanism and methods. The significance of the results either for the scientific community or for the food industry must also be addressed. Contributions that do not meet these requirements will not be considered for review and publication.
Current approaches against mycotoxins focused on the high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (LC–MS), as well as enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA). Nevertheless, these technologies suffer from the drawbacks such as complex pretreatment processes, bulky instruments and professional operators, making them labor-intensive, time-consuming, high-cost, and unable to achieve rapid point-of-care testing. As an emerging sensing strategy, biosensors and chemosensors have opened up an innovative platform for monitoring and tracing levels of mycotoxins due to their easy operation, low cost, rapid response, flexible design, accurate determination, high sensitivity and selectivity, as well as the promising potential in commercialization. This research topic focuses on the advanced biosensors and chemosensors for mycotoxins control in various food and food commodities. We invite submissions in terms of original research, critical reviews, and perspectives with quality, novelty, and significance that fall within this area.
Biosensing and Chemosensing theory, mechanisms, design, and detection principles toward mycotoxins like aflatoxins (AFB1, AFM1), ochratoxins (OTA), fumonisins (FB1), zearalenone (ZEN), deoxynivalenol (DON) and T-2 toxin, etc. in cereals, maize, vegetables, fruits, milk, peanuts, oils, and processed products, including but not limited to:
-Aptamer screening and characterization
-Aptamer-based extraction and enrichment
-Immunosensors and aptasensors
-Optical biosensors and chemosensors
-Electrochemical biosensors and chemosensors
-Nanomaterials-based biosensors and chemosensors
-Nanosensors, enzymes sensors, microfluidic chip, lab-on-a-chip, handled meters detection, smartphone detection, wearable point-of-care testing, miniaturized devices, integrated and incorporated devices.
-Other recent research advances in mycotoxin-related sensing applications.
The work described should be innovative both in the mechanism and methods. The significance of the results either for the scientific community or for the food industry must also be addressed. Contributions that do not meet these requirements will not be considered for review and publication.
Keywords: Food safety, Mycotoxins, Biosensors, Chemosensors, Human health
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
