Background: Hazard contamination, especially in relation to estrogen disruptors, is recognized as a noteworthy aspect of food fraud, resulting in substantial economic losses for the food industry. Conventional estrogen disruptor detection methods (such as high performance liquid chromatography, gas chromatography, etc.) are expensive, complex, have low throughput, and lack specific recognition ability. This combination of limitations restricts their practical application in food fraud prevention and monitoring. Recognition molecule-based detection methods enable simple, fast, sensitive, high-throughput and low-cost detection of estrogen disruptors, providing an effective means for practical prevention and monitoring of food fraud caused by estrogen disruptors. Scope and approach: This review systematically discusses the recent development of estrogen disruptors detection methods based on recognition molecules. Recognition molecules (such as antibodies, aptamers, molecularly imprinted polymers, etc.) were reviewed for their strengths and weaknesses. The applications of recognition molecules in different types of methods were then summarized in detail. Finally, the potential and further development of recognition molecule-based methods for estrogen disruptor detection were discussed. Key findings and conclusions: Recognition molecule-based detection methods have been successfully applied to the detection of estrogen disruptors in real food samples and effectively curbed the occurrence of related food fraud. These methods have been gradually combined with novel labeling materials and signal acquisition technologies to further improve the detection performance. Combining them with other equipments allows for improvements in miniaturization and simplified operation. The ongoing improvements of recognition molecule-based detection methods will effectively reduce food fraud and the associated losses caused by estrogen disruptors.
