Current Progress of Molecularly Imprinted Polymers for Emerging Pollutants Analysis in Food

As emerging pollutants (EPs) threaten food safety and human health, they demand highly selective and sensitive detection. Because of their excellent permissibility, specific recognition, practicality, and stability, molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) are widely used in analyzing EPs in food. We highlight MIP applications across key platforms in sample pretreatment, sensors, chromatographic separation, membrane separation, and simulated enzymes, offering practical references for constructing a method for analyzing food contaminants possessing low detection limits and high recovery rates. This review uniquely integrates MIP design strategies with advanced detection technologies, critically analyzing polymerization methods and imprinting parameters to enable efficient MIP synthesis. It elaborates on recent progress in utilizing MIPs as selective identification units for analyzing EPs in food, categorized according to different detection technologies. Finally, the review concludes with challenges and future trends to advance MIP-based early warning systems for food safety.