Ensuring food safety is paramount worldwide. Developing effective detection methods to ensure food safety can be challenging owing to trace hazards, long detection time, and resource-poor sites, in addition to the matrix effects of food. Personal glucose meter (PGM), a classic point-of-care testing device, possesses unique application advantages, demonstrating promise in food safety. Currently, many studies have used PGM-based biosensors and signal amplification technologies to achieve sensitive and specific detection of food hazards. Signal amplification technologies have the potential to greatly improve the analytical performance and integration of PGMs with biosensors, which is crucial for solving the challenges associated with the use of PGMs for food safety analysis. This review introduces the basic detection principle of a PGM-based sensing strategy, which consists of three key factors: target recognition, signal transduction, and signal output. Representative studies of existing PGM-based sensing strategies combined with various signal amplification technologies (nanomaterial-loaded multienzyme labeling, nucleic acid reaction, DNAzyme catalysis, responsive nanomaterial encapsulation, and others) in the field of food safety detection are reviewed. Future perspectives and potential opportunities and challenges associated with PGMs in the field of food safety are discussed. Despite the need for complex sample preparation and the lack of standardization in the field, using PGMs in combination with signal amplification technology shows promise as a rapid and cost-effective method for food safety hazard analysis.

Chromatography combined with mass spectrometry is the most commonly used detection technology, and it offers the advantages of high sensitivity and high selectivity. The quick, easy, inexpensive, effective, rugged, and safe (QuEChERS) method is low-cost, effective, and time efficient. The application of the QuEChERS has now been extended to the analysis of contaminants in food samples. The aim of the study was to identify different concentration levels of multiple harmful drug residues in bean sprouts. In this study, QuEChERS coupled with high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) was established for the simultaneous determination of 40 plant growth regulators, fungicides, insecticides, and antibiotics in bean sprouts. In the HPLC-MS/MS experiment, gibberellic acid, 4-fluorophenoxyacetic acid, chloramphenicol, N6-(δ2-isopentenyl)-adenine, 6-benzylaminopurine, 4-chlorophenoxyacetic acid, and 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) were analyzed by MS/MS with negative electrospray ionization (ESI^-). The other 33 target analytes (chlormequat, ronidazole, metronidazole, pymetrozine, dimetridazole, methomyl, carbendazim, enoxacin, levofloxacin, pefloxacin mesylate, norfloxacin, ciprofloxacin, enrofloxacin, thiabendazole, lomefloxacin, chlorpyrifos, sarafloxacin, imidacloprid, etc.) were analyzed by MS/MS with positive electrospray ionization (ESI⁺). Sensitive MS conditions were realized by optimizing the instrumental parameters such as the desolvent temperature, collision energy, spraying needle position, precursor ions, and product ions. Then, the optimal pretreatment method was determined by comparing the recovery rates of the 40 drugs obtained with different extraction solvents (methanol, acetonitrile, acetonitrile containing 0.1% ammonia, acetonitrile with 1% acetic acid), different extraction methods (ultrasonic extraction, shaking extraction), and purification with primary secondary amine (PSA) and C₁₈. In this study, the bean sprouts samples were extracted twice by 10 mL acetonitrile with 1% acetic acid, and extracted under ultrasonic conditions. Then, the extracting solution was only cleaned with 100 mg C₁₈. The chromatographic separation of the 40 compounds was accomplished on a Waters ACQUITY UPLC BEH C₁₈ column (100 mm×2.1 mm, 1.7 μm) with gradient elution. Methanol and 0.01% formic acid aqueous solution were used as the mobile phases. The 40 compounds were analyzed in the multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. The matrix matching external standard method was used for quantitative determination. The results showed that the 40 compounds could be analyzed within 15 min. Under the optimized conditions, the calibration curves showed good linearities for the 40 compounds, and the coefficients of determination (r²) were greater than 0.99 in the range of 2-200 μg/L. The limits of detection (LODs) and limits of quantification (LOQs) were in the range of 0.1-3 μg/kg and 0.3-9 μg/kg, respectively. Using negative bean sprouts as the substrates, the recovery tests were carried out at three spiked levels of 5, 10, and 50 μg/kg. The average recoveries of the 40 drugs were 78.5% to 115.3%, and the corresponding relative standard deviations (RSDs) were 1.3% to 9.7% (n=6). This method was successfully applied to the analysis of the 40 drug residues in 21 batches of local bean sprouts in Handan city. The results revealed the presence of extensive drug residues in the bean sprouts. The 26 batches were detected to varying degrees, among which 4-chlorophenoxyacetic acid, carbendazim, 6-benzyladenine, 2,4-D, enrofloxacin, and metronidazole were detected at high rates. The detection rates of 4-chlorophenoxyacetic acid, 6-benzyladenine, carbendazim, 2,4-D, gibberellic acid, and enrofloxacin were 28.6%, 19.0%, 9.5%, 9.5%, 4.8%, and 4.8%, respectively. The contents ranged from 37.5-352.4, 32.4-273.1, 28.8-38.7, 316.1-20.2, 19.9 and 13.6 μg/kg, respectively. Given its advantages of simplicity, rapidness, and high sensitivity, the developed method can be used for the rapid and accurate determination of trace levels of the 40 drug residues in large quantities of bean sprouts.

Lactoferrin (Lf), as a popular nutritional fortification in dairy products, has the ability regulate the body’s immune system and function as a broad-spectrum antibacterial, which is of great significance to the growth and development of infants and children. Herein, an indirect competitive enzyme-linked aptamer assay (ELAA) kit was established for rapid, sensitive, and visual determination of Lf in dairy products. In the construction, the Lf aptamer was conjugated with horseradish peroxidase (HRP) as the recognition probe and aptamer complementary strand (cDNA) were anchored onto the microplate as the capture probe. The recognition probes were first mixed with a sample solution and specifically bound with the contained Lf, then added into the microplate in which the free recognition probes in the mixture were captured by the capture probe. After washing, the remaining complex of cDNA/Aptamer/HRP in the microplate was conducted with a chromogenic reaction through HRP, efficiently catalyzing the substrate 3, 3′, 5, 5′-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB), therefore the color shade would directly reflect Lf concentration. Under the optimization conditions, a good linear relationship (R², 0.9901) was obtained in the wide range of 25–500 nM with the detection limit of 14.01 nM and a good specificity, as well as the reliable recoveries. Furthermore, the ELAA kits achieved the Lf determination with an accuracy of 79.71~116.99% in eleven samples, which consisted of three kinds of dairy products: including goat milk powder, cow milk powder, and nutrition drop. Moreover, the results were also validated by the high-performance capillary electrophoresis (HPCE) method. The ELAA kit provides a simple and convenient determination for Lf in dairy products, and it is highly expected to be commercialized.

Pomegranate seeds are rich in polyphenols, known for their significant health benefits. In this study, we developed microcapsules to encapsulate pomegranate seed polyphenols (PSP) using a combination of zeaxylated protein (Zein) and chitosan (Cs). The optimization process involved a Zein to Cs volume ratio of 1:1, a chitosan concentration of 1.0 mg mL⁻¹, and a polyphenol concentration of 2.0 mg mL⁻¹. Scanning electron microscopy confirmed the formation of Zein/Cs/PSP complex coacervates, indicating the successful encapsulation. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy provided further evidence of electrostatic attraction between PSP and the Zein/Cs matrix. Differential scanning calorimetry analysis demonstrated the successful incorporation of PSP into the Zein/Cs wall material. Moreover, the encapsulated core material exhibited exceptional storage stability and retained its antioxidant activity. Notably, more than 85% of the encapsulated PSP remained intact after 5 h of simulated intestinal fluid digestion. This study underscores the potential of pomegranate seeds for comprehensive utilization in food engineering.