Detection of nitrofurans residues in honey using surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy

(001) facet-supported TiO2 facet heterojunction with abundant active sites and high-efficiency carrier separation for ultrasensitive SERS detection of antibiotic residues in foods

BACKGROUND

Antibiotic residues in animal-derived foods are seriously threatening human health and have attracted growing public attention. It is very important and valuable to carry out a rapid ultrasensitive detection of antibiotic residues, especially accurate identification based on molecular fingerprints.

RESULTS

Here, a (001) facet-supported TiO2 facet heterojunction with abundant active sites (SF-TiO2) was developed as a surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate for ultrasensitive detection of antibiotic residues in milk and honey foods. Exposure of more (001) facets in SF-TiO2 can not only provide abundant surface-active sites for efficient chemical recognition of target molecules, but also form effective facet heterojunctions to achieve high-efficient carrier separation for charge transfer between substrate and molecule, which are together responsible for ultrasensitive SERS detection of target molecules with an enhancement factor of 1.3 × 107. The detection limit of enrofloxacin, enoxacin, ciprofloxacin and chloramphenicol residues in milk or honey reaches to 10-10-10-9 M, far lower than the EU standard. And, a simultaneous identification of multi-component residues in foods can be realized. The developed substrate exhibits excellent stability, anti-interference ability, and recyclability in the actual detection.

SIGNIFICANCE

This work not only provides a novel SERS method for ultrasensitive detection of antibiotic residues in animal-derived foods, but also provides new ideas and concepts for the development of new-type semiconductor SERS substrates and their practical application.

A comprehensive review on the pretreatment and detection methods of nitrofurans and their metabolites in animal-derived food and environmental samples

In recent years, the residues of nitrofurans (NFs) and their metabolites in animal-derived food and environmental samples have gained widespread attention. The parent drugs and their metabolites have displayed significant toxicity to human health including carcinogenic, mutagenic and teratogenic effects, leading to banned in animal husbandry in many countries. Hence, monitoring the residues of NFs is necessary to guarantee public health and ecological security. This review aims to summarize and assess the structural properties, residue status, sample pretreatment methods (liquid-liquid extraction, solid-phase extraction, Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged, and Safe (QuEChERS), and field-assisted extraction), and detection methods (chromatographic analysis, immunoassay, and some innovative detection methods) for NFs and their metabolites in animal-derived food and environmental samples. This paper provides a detailed reference and discussion for the analysis of NFs and their metabolites, which can effectively promote the establishment of innovative detection methods for NFs and their metabolites residues.

Farm to fork applications: how vibrational spectroscopy can be used along the whole value chain?

Vibrational spectroscopy is a nondestructive analysis technique that depends on the periodic variations in dipole moments and polarizabilities resulting from the molecular vibrations of molecules/atoms. These methods have important advantages over conventional analytical techniques, including (a) their simplicity in terms of implementation and operation, (b) their adaptability to on-line and on-farm applications, (c) making measurement in a few minutes, and (d) the absence of dangerous solvents throughout sample preparation or measurement. Food safety is a concept that requires the assurance that food is free from any physical, chemical, or biological hazards at all stages, from farm to fork. Continuous monitoring should be provided in order to guarantee the safety of the food. Regarding their advantages, vibrational spectroscopic methods, such as Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR), near-infrared (NIR), and Raman spectroscopy, are considered reliable and rapid techniques to track food safety- and food authenticity-related issues throughout the food chain. Furthermore, coupling spectral data with chemometric approaches also enables the discrimination of samples with different kinds of food safety-related hazards. This review deals with the recent application of vibrational spectroscopic techniques to monitor various hazards related to various foods, including crops, fruits, vegetables, milk, dairy products, meat, seafood, and poultry, throughout harvesting, transportation, processing, distribution, and storage.

Rapid determination of furazolidone residues in animal foods by time-resolved fluorescence immunochromatography

Although furazolidone (FZD) was completely banned from livestock production in many countries many years ago due to its mutagenicity and carcinogenicity, the abuse of FZD is still common today. Accurate and rapid detection of FZD residues in animal-derived food products is highly important for human health. Here, a time-resolved fluorescence immunochromatography (TRFI) test strip for rapid and quantitative detection of 3-amino-2-oxazolidinone (AOZ) residues in animal foods was developed and validated. Its limit of detection and limit of quantification were 0.05 and 0.14 μg/kg, respectively. The typical recovery rates were 95-105 % in chicken breast samples spiked with the AOZ standard substance at concentrations of 0.05-2 μg/kg, with a coefficient of variation value ≤8.5 %. The cross-reaction rates of the TRFI-AOZ test strips with 3-amino-5-morpholinomethyl-2-oxazolidone, semicarbazide, and 1-amino-imidazolidin-2,4-dione were less than 1 %. The newly developed TRFI test strip has high sensitivity, high specificity, cost effectiveness and user-friendly control, and is suitable for the rapid and large-scale screening of AOZ residues in animal foods.

Silver nanopopcorns decorated on flexible membrane for SERS detection of nitrofurazone

The synthesis of three-dimensional silver nanopopcorns (Ag NPCs) onto a flexible polycarbonate membrane (PCM) for the detection of nitrofurazone (NFZ) on the fish surface by surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is presented. The proposed flexible Ag-NPCs/PCM SERS substrate exhibits significant Raman signal intensity enhancement with the measured enhancement factor of 2.36 × 106. This is primarily attributed to the hotspots created on Ag NPCs, including numerous nanoscale protrusions and internal crevices distributed across the surface of Ag NPCs. The detection of NFZ by this flexible SERS substrate demonstrates a low limit of detection (LOD) of 3.7 × 10-9 M and uniform and reproducible Raman signal intensities with a relative standard deviation below 8.34%. It also exhibits excellent stability, retaining 70% of its efficacy even after 10 days of storage. Notably, the practical detection of NFZ in tap water, honey water, and fish surfaces achieves LOD values of 1.35 × 10-8 M, 5.76 × 10-7 M, and 3.61 × 10-8 M, respectively,  which highlights its effectiveness across different sample types. The developed Ag-NPCs/PCM SERS substrate presents promising potential for sensitive SERS detection of toxic substances in real-world samples.

Highly water-soluble and biocompatible hyaluronic acid functionalized upconversion nanoparticles as ratiometric nanoprobes for label-free detection of nitrofuran and doxorubicin

Antibiotic detection is crucial and challenging because the widespread consumption of antibiotics has shown extensive harmful effects on food, environment and human health. Here, we propose highly water-soluble and biocompatible hyaluronic acid (HYA) functionalized upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) for ratiometric detection of multiple antibiotics. The ultraviolet upconversion luminescence (UCL) from UCNPs was significantly quenched by nitrofurazone (NFZ)/nitrofurantoin (NFT), and blue UCL was quenched by doxorubicin (DOX), while red UCL remained unchanged for internal reference. The UCNPs-HYA nanoprobes exhibit excellently sensitive and selective NFZ, NFT and DOX detection in linear range of 2.5-100 μM, 2.5-80 μM, and 2.5-200 μM with the LOD at 0.28 μM (55 μg/kg), 0.20 μM (48 μg/kg) and 0.17 μM (97 μg/kg), respectively. The nanoprobes achieved detecting real samples of NFZ in lake water, liquid milk and chicken meat with satisfactory results, and UCL bioimaging of DOX in HeLa cells. The UCNPs-HYA ratiometric nanoprobes are promising for food samples detection and potential biosensing in the cellular environment.

A modified QuEChERS method based on a reduced graphene oxide-coated melamine sponge for multiresidue analysis of veterinary drugs in mutton by UPLC-MS/MS

The development of different matrix adsorbents is a research focus in the multiresidue analysis of veterinary drugs in foods. In this study, a novel elastic matrix adsorbent based on a reduced graphene oxide-coated melamine sponge was prepared and applied in matrix purification for the simultaneous determination of 52 veterinary drugs in mutton by UPLC-MS/MS. Efficient and convenient matrix removal was achieved through simple soaking and squeezing. Good linearities with determination coefficients ≥0.999 and low matrix effects ≤±13% were obtained in the range of 10-500 μg·kg-1. The obtained recoveries ranged from 63.7% to 109.5% at three spiked levels (10, 50, and 100 μg·kg-1), with relative standard deviations ≤8.1%. Low LODs and LOQs were obtained in ranges of 0.02-2.0 μg·kg-1 and 0.05-5.0 μg·kg-1, respectively. Based on the comprehensive results, our developed method showed good applicability in the analysis of multiresidues in various foods.