molecules Review Molecularly Imprinted Polymers Combined with Electrochemical Sensors for Food Contaminants Analysis Dounia Elfadil 1,2, Abderrahman Lamaoui 2 , Flavio Della Pelle 1 , Aziz Amine 2,* and Dario Compagnone 1,* 1 Faculty of Bioscience and Technology for Food, Agriculture and Environment, University of Teramo, Via Renato Balzarini 1, 64100 Teramo, Italy;
[email protected] (D.E.);
[email protected] (F.D.P.) 2 Laboratory of Process Engineering and Environment, Faculty of Sciences and Techniques, Hassan II University of Casablanca, Mohammedia 28810, Morocco;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected] (A.A.);
[email protected] (D.C.) Abstract: Detection of relevant contaminants using screening approaches is a key issue to ensure food safety and respect for the regulatory limits established. Electrochemical sensors present several advantages such as rapidity; ease of use; possibility of on-site analysis and low cost. The lack of selectivity for electrochemical sensors working in complex samples as food may be overcome by coupling them with molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs). MIPs are synthetic materials that mimic biological receptors and are produced by the polymerization of functional monomers in presence of a target analyte. This paper critically reviews and discusses the recent progress in MIP-based electrochemical sensors for food safety. A brief introduction on MIPs and electrochemical sensors is given; followed by a discussion of the recent achievements for various MIPs-based electrochemical sensors for food contaminants analysis. Both electropolymerization and chemical synthesis of MIP- Citation: Elfadil, D.; Lamaoui, A.; based electrochemical sensing are discussed as well as the relevant applications of MIPs used in Della Pelle, F.; Amine, A.; sample preparation and then coupled to electrochemical analysis.