Abstract: With the rapid development of the food industry and the growing concerns about food safety, it is particularly significant to develop fast, convenient and accurate techniques for food analysis and testing. In the analysis of food safety, due to the complex matrix composition and the low concentration of the target compounds, selecting the appropriate sample pretreatment method and extraction adsorbent is important for achieving good extraction efficiency. Two or more interactions of mixed-mode adsorbents with target compounds of the same type can occur simultaneously, and mixed-mode adsorbents can also interact with multiple target components with different properties simultaneously, resulting in increased adsorption selectivity and capacity compared to single-mode adsorbents. Hence, in this article, the classification, characteristics and application of mixed-mode adsorbents in the field of food analysis are reviewed with the purpose of providing a reference for researchers in the selection, preparation and application of mixed-mode adsorbents and of boosting the development of mixed-mode adsorbents in the field of food analysis.

Key words: mixed-mode adsorbents; food safety analysis; sample pretreatment; multi-class and multi-target analysis; application