Siti Nabilah Karim, Peir Shinn Hew, Farooq Anwar, Rashidah Sukor, Nuzul Noorahya Jambari, Maimunah Sanny, Alfi Khatib
Food safety remains a critical global concern due to the pervasive presence of food toxicants such as persistent organic pollutants, pesticide residues, heavy metals, microplastics, and mycotoxins, all of which pose significant health risks. In response to the limitations of traditional detection methods such as high cost, complexity, and delayed analysis, there is a growing need for advanced technologies that are cost-effective, eco-friendly and sustainable. This review aims to evaluate recent innovations in the detection and mitigation of food toxicants and contaminants, with a focus on their mechanisms, effectiveness, and integration potential. A narrative review methodology was employed, drawing from peer-reviewed literature published between 2011 and 2025 across major scientific databases. The findings highlight the growing role of biosensors, metabolomics-based detection, and machine learning technologies for the detection of food toxicants, enabling rapid, sensitive, and high-throughput analysis. In parallel, green mitigation technologies including biopesticides, eco-friendly packaging, and Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) -based decontamination offer promising strategies to reduce the presence of foodborne toxicants. These advancements not only enhance food safety monitoring but also align with sustainability goals. By bridging cutting-edge detection platforms with sustainable intervention strategies, this review contributes a comprehensive framework to support innovation, regulatory development, and safer global food systems. © 2025 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
Laboratory of Food Safety and Food Integrity, Institute of Tropical Agriculture and Food Security, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, Serdang, Malaysia; Department of Food Science, Faculty of Food Science and Technology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, Serdang, Malaysia; Institute of Chemistry, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Pakistan; Faculty of Health Sciences, Shinawatra University, Pathum Thani, Thailand; Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Kulliyyah of Pharmacy, International Islamic University Malaysia, Kuantan, Malaysia; Department of Animal Product Technology, Faculty of Animal Sciences, Universitas Brawijaya, Malang, Indonesia
