Metal-Organic Frameworks as Promising Adsorbents for Mitigating Environmental and Food Contaminants

The elimination of hazardous substances from food products remains a critical and persistent challenge for global food safety. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have gained recognition as exceptional adsorption agents and found extensive application in capturing toxic contaminants within food matrices, owing to their architecturally tunable porous structures and exceptional surface functionalities. Amid increasing complexities in contamination within global food supply chains, MOF-based adsorption technologies demonstrate remarkable potential for addressing diverse foodborne contaminants. This review first elucidates the synthesis methods and adsorption mechanisms of MOFs through representative examples, with the mechanisms primarily including π-π and acid-base conjugations, electrostatic interaction, hydrogen bonding, metal coordination, and hydrophobic interaction. Cutting-edge applications of MOFs are evaluated in six critical contamination domains: heavy metal ions, dyes, emerging contaminants-pharmaceutical and personal care products, halide ions, pesticides and mycotoxins. While current applications of MOFs in the food sector are predominantly focused on detection, this review provides a comprehensive summary of recent advances in MOF-based materials for the adsorption of food contaminants and offers critical perspectives on future research directions.