ANTIBODIES AND FOOD PRODUCTIONS - POSSIBL E APPLICATIONS IN FOOD QUALITY AND SAFETY CONTROL

In the food industry, the control and improvement of quality and safet y of food products before their entrance in the market is mandatory. T his process involves the necessity of monitoring different compounds, among which factors of plant and animal diseases, analysis of food con tamination for toxins, pesticides and drug residues, natural toxicants , allergenes, pathogenic microorganisms. Therefore is Very important t o set-up methodologies and techniques able to give qualitative and qua ntitative answers in a short time. Immunodiagnostic tests, based on an tibodies properties, are optimal candidates for this task, because the ir are economic, rapid, easy to perform, very sensitive and reliable, and because they can be carried out directly on the field. In this rev iew, examples of application of immunological tests to food production are reported, such as those for the presence of bacteria, Virus and m olds in food crops and in animal production, and those for the presenc e of microbial toxins, algal toxins, pathogenic microorganisms, and pe sticides or drug residues. The development of tests based on the emplo yment of specific antibodies, such as immunobiosensors, remains a prom ising area of research for the application to the food industry.