# Exploring the Potential of Microextraction in the Survey of Food Fruits and Vegetable Safety
## 1 Introduction  
Today's consumers are increasingly concerned about agriculture, nutrition, and sustainability, and they want to know where food comes from, how it was grown, what kind of industrial processes it suffered, and if it contains natural/synthetic food additives or not [1]. While fresh fruits and vegetables are important sources of phytontutrients such as polyphenols, vitamins, minerals, and fibres, they may also contain contaminants such as pesticides, antibiotics, or food preservatives [2]. Farmers use these contaminants to protect their crops and promote growth. Without suitable pest control measures, farmers could lose up to 40% of their yield, requiring more land, water, seed, tractor fuel, labour hours, and pest-control products to continue their activities [3, 4]. However, the passive consumption of these molecules can have serious consequences for human health.  
To address these concerns, many countries have strict regulations concerning the Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) for pesticides in food [5]. The European Union (EU), for example, has established MRLs for 315 pesticides, with a default limit of 0.01 mg kg\({}^{-1}\) for new pesticides [5] and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) prepares annual reports on pesticide residues in foodstuffs to control these MRLs [6]. The most recent report, approved in 2021 for the year 2019, found that pesticides exceeding their MRLs were present in almost 4% of the samples analysed, highlighting the importance of controlling pesticide presence in food for human health [6]. Another major concern is the presence of antibiotics in fruits and vegetables, which can promote antibiotic resistance and compromise food safety and the consumer's trust in the food chain [7; 8; 9]. Antibiotics can enter these samples using natural fertilizers derived from human or animal faeces processing.  
The use of food preservatives can also impact human health [10]. Sulphites, for example, are marketed as preservatives and can be classified as antioxidants, antimicrobials, and antibrowning agents [11]. However, they can also have anti-nutritional consequences by promoting the degradation of vitamin B1 [10].  
Different extraction techniques can be employed to assess food safety. This selection depends on several factors, with the nature of the target analytes as one of the most important. Regardless of the target analytes, most methods currently developed still rely on conventional techniques, requiring large sample volumes and organic solvents along with laborious, time-consuming, and complex protocols. However, the growing concerns with the environment and planet sustainability are boosting the interest in the development of microextraction approaches based on green analytical chemistry principles.  
Most microextraction techniques employ the same preparation principles as conventional methods with enhanced analytical performance. Additionally, these approaches possess simple and faster extraction procedures, in which lower sample and solvent volumes are used [12].  
In this context, this review will discuss the advantages of moving from conventional extraction techniques to modern microextraction approaches to survey the presence of pesticides, antibiotics, and preservatives in fresh fruit and vegetables, taking into consideration the works reported in the literature in the last five years.