Evaluating the green credentials and performance of deep eutectic solvents in the extraction of antibiotics and mycotoxins in foods

Deep eutectic solvents (DES) are new generation solvents that have recently emerged as a sustainable alternative to organic solvents in the extraction of chemical contaminants in foods. This article provides a comprehensive and critical appraisal of recent studies on the synthesis and application of DES in the extraction of food chemical contaminants, particularly for antibiotics and mycotoxins. The capacity of DES to efficiently isolate these chemical contaminants from a wide variety of food samples and environmental friendliness of the entire analytical methods have been evaluated and discussed. The extraction recovery values obtained for most of the target compounds ranged from 64% to 114%. In terms of greenness and environmental impacts, conventional organic solvents or DES with toxic components are utilized in many DES-based analytical methods. In addition, not all the DES synthesized for analytical chemistry are biodegradable. Therefore, the claim of ‘safe’, ‘sustainability’ ‘green’ or ‘eco-friendliness’ by numerous studies using DES, particularly for the determination of chemical contaminants in foods is questionable.