Recent advances in the application of innovative food processing technologies for mycotoxins and pesticide reduction in foods

Background: Agricultural products are a vital component of the human diet. However, these products can be contaminated by health-threatening pesticides and mycotoxins due to improper farming and storage practices. Besides, pesticide pollution can be also regarded as environmental pollution and pesticide reduction is among the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). While these hazardous chemicals are stable during several traditional food processing, innovative food processing technologies, including high-pressure processing (HPP), pulsed electric fields (PEF), cold plasma (CP), supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2), and ultrasound (USN) processing, have been found to have good potential for mycotoxin and pesticide reduction. However, the extent that each of these technologies can degrade pesticides and mycotoxins, as well as the mechanisms involved, is not well-discussed in the literature. Scope and approach: The present study aims to provide a narrative review of recent findings in pesticide and mycotoxin removal through HPP, PEF, CP, SC-CO2, and USN processing. In this regard, the data published in the literature were retrieved and the efficiency of these emerging technologies in pesticide and mycotoxin removal was evaluated. Key findings and conclusion: Innovative technologies can prevent mycotoxin formation and can cause mycotoxins and pesticide reduction in foods. Besides, different innovative processing technologies have different efficiency in removing pesticides and mycotoxins and pesticide pollution, depending on processing parameters, the type of pesticide/mycotoxin, and the food matrix. Therefore, some reports showed promising results (e.g. 100% removal of deoxynivalenol and zearalenone toxins by HPP) but some others showed only a limited amount of target hazardous material can be removed by emerging technologies (e.g. maximum degradation of dimethoate was 35% after a PEF treatment).