Next-Generation Rapid Pesticide Assays: A Critical Review of Analytical Methods, Detection Limits, and Future...

The large-scale application of pesticides in present-day agriculture renders the demand for prompt, portable, and precise analytical tools for monitoring the safety of food and protecting the environment ever more pressing. The current review provides an analysis of the latest advances in point-of-care testing (POCT) technologies, which satisfy the inadequacies of older methods, including chromatographic technologies (GC, LC, HPLC) characterized by significant labor intensiveness and prolonged time of use. The sensory methods analyzed in this paper, among others, are immunoassays, molecularly imprinted polymers, electrochemical biosensing systems, and optical sensors in terms of various helpful characteristics of the technologies such as their sensitivity, selectivity, portability, etc. Important innovations (e.g. the application of nanoparticles used for amplification of signals) have contributed to significant performance improvements (sub-ppb detection limit). The current review describes the latest trends in development (e.g. machine-learning-supported signal processing, paper-based microfluidic platforms, CRISPR technologies, integration) and discusses issues related to the implementation of the technology in practice (validation, standardization, regulatory acceptance, commercialization).