Food and Agricultural Immunology

Human health is greatly influenced by the environment, particularly the quality and nature of the food consumed. The antibiotic and antimicrobial drugs include sulphonamides, lincosamides, nitrofurans, trimethoprim, amphenicols, tetracyclines, polymyxins, and β-lactams and quinolones have been widely used in animal production. However, the residues of these drugs can pose serious health hazards by contaminating food products consumed by humans such as milk, chicken, egg, honey, fish, or meat. Drug residues in animal-origin food can also trigger the development of antimicrobial resistance, which has become a serious international issue in recent years.

The control of antibiotic and antimicrobial residues in food, including the detection techniques and elimination, is very important for human health. Since the usage of antibiotic and antimicrobial drugs is unavoidable, the detection of antibiotic and antimicrobial residues is essential, especially those techniques with rapidity and simplicity. For example, antibody-based immunoassays such as ELISA and lateral flow strips are widely used in the screening of antibiotic and antimicrobial residues. Recently, molecular modeling assisted haptens design to improve the predictability of antibody properties, nanomaterials-based probes to amplify the signal, and novel biosensors have been developed to improve the assay sensitivity and convenience.

The elimination of antibiotic and antimicrobial residues in food is also a research interest. The substitution of antibiotic and antimicrobial drugs by natural products and probiotics, the degradation of antibiotic and antimicrobial drugs by electrochemical processes, solar photo-Fenton process, and photocatalytic process have been studied. These manners are able to decrease the residues of antibiotic and antimicrobial drugs in foods and environments. It’s also an alternative manner to prevent humans from harm by antibiotic and antimicrobial residues.

Thus, this Article Collection aims to receive high-quality scientific research and review articles dealing with the detection and elimination of antibiotic and antimicrobial residues in food by all kinds of methods, the topic can include but is not limited to the following aspects:

• The design, production, and modification of antibodies to recognize antibiotic and antimicrobial residues specifically.
• The design and application of nanomaterials-based signal probes for enhancing the assay sensitivity.
• The development and validation of novel immunoassays for antibiotic and antimicrobial residues.
• The substitution of antibiotic and antimicrobial drugs by natural products and probiotics.
• The e degradation of antibiotic and antimicrobial drugs by all kinds of methods.

Please contact Xiunan Kong at [email protected] with any queries and discount codes regarding this Article Collection.

Please be sure to select the appropriate Article Collection from the drop-down menu in the submission system.

---

 

Dr. Xu’s research interests focus on the production of antigens and antibodies against small molecules such as antibiotics and pesticides, the study of antigen-antibody interaction, and the development of immunoassays. He has published more than 250 peer-reviewed papers in the field of food safety. Currently, he is serving as an editorial board member in Food and Agricultural Immunology and reviewers for many international journals such as Analytical Chemistry, Food Chemistry, Food Control, and Journal of Hazardous Materials. Link: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1197-4615

Dr. Hongsibsong’s research work focuses on environmental health and occupational health sciences. He used chromatographic-based methods and antibody-based immunoassays to monitor the chemical residues in raw food materials sold in local markets in Thailand. He also assessed chemical exposures in humans, both farmers and consumers. The results of his studies were disseminated to the local communities and therefore increased awareness of the local people on pesticide contamination and the possible health effects. Link: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5510-5905

Instructions for AuthorsSubmit an Article