Exploring the Potential of Microextraction in the Survey of Food Fruits and Vegetable Safety

The increasing demand for food to feed an exponentially growing population, the fast evolution of climate changes, how global warming affects soil productivity, and the erosion of arable lands, create enormous pressure on the food chain. This problem is particularly evident for fresh fruits and vegetables that have a short shelf life. For this reason, food safety precautions are not always a priority and they are often overused to increase the productivity and shelf life of these food commodities, causing concerns among consumers and public authorities. In this context, this review discusses the potential of microextraction in comparison to conventional extraction approaches as a strategy to improve the survey of food safety requirements. Accordingly, selected examples reported in the literature in the last five years will focus on the detection and quantification of pesticides, antibiotics, hormones, and preservatives in fresh fruits and vegetables using different extraction approaches. Overall, the use of microextraction techniques to survey the presence of contaminants in the food chain is very advantageous, involving simpler and faster protocols, reduced amounts of solvents and samples, and consequently, reduced waste produced during analysis while conserving a high potential for automation. Additionally, this higher greener profile of the microextraction techniques will boost a progressive substitution of conventional extraction approaches by microextraction processes in most analytical applications, including the survey of food chain safety.

Automated summary

The increasing demand for food, climate changes, global warming, and arable land erosion pose great pressure on the food chain, especially fresh fruits and vegetables. In order to increase productivity and shelf life, safety precautions are often overused, causing concerns among consumers and public authorities. This review discusses the potential of microextraction as a strategy to improve food safety requirements by comparing it to conventional extraction approaches. It highlights the advantages of microextraction techniques, such as simpler and faster protocols, reduced waste, and potential for automation, and suggests their progressive substitution for conventional extraction approaches in various analytical applications.