analytica chimica acta 605 ( 2 0 0 7 ) 111–129 available at www.sciencedirect.com journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/aca Review A review on novel developments and applications of immunosensors in food analysis Francesco Ricci * , Giulia Volpe, Laura Micheli, Giuseppe Palleschi Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Chimiche, Universit` a di Roma Tor Vergata, Via della Ricerca Scientifica, 00133 Rome, Italy article info Article history: Received 9 July 2007 Received in revised form 26 October 2007 Accepted 26 October 2007 Published on line 4 November 2007 Keywords: Immunosensor Food analysis Surface plasmon resonance Electrochemical Quartz crystal microbalance abstract The present review deals with novel developments in immunosensors destined for final application in food analysis. In this perspective particular emphasis will be given to the most important approaches which recently have been used for immunosensor construction and assembling. For this reason, electrochemical, surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) techniques will be explored in detail and recent and practical examples on food matrices will be reviewed. Objective of this survey is to give a general overview of the possible application of immunosensors to the food analysis field. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Contents 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................. 112 2. Electrochemical immunosensors ............................................................................................ 114 2.1. Applications in food analysis ......................................................................................... 115 2.1.1. Veterinary drugs ............................................................................................. 115 2.1.2. Pathogenic bacteria .......................................................................................... 116 2.1.3. Toxins ......................................................................................................... 117 2.1.4. GMO........................................................................................................... 118 2.1.5. Polychlorinated biphenyls ................................................................................... 119 2.1.6. Pesticides ..................................................................................................... 119 3. Optical immunosensors ..................................................................................................... 120 3.1. SPR immunosensor ................................................................................................... 120 3.2. Other optical-based immunosensors ................................................................................ 120 3.3. Applications in food analysis ......................................................................................... 120 3.3.1. Veterinary drugs ............................................................................................. 120 ∗ Corresponding author. E-mail address: Francesco.ricci@uniroma2.it (F. Ricci). 0003-2670/$ – see front matter © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.aca.2007.10.046