Phenolic compounds may be of natural or anthropogenic origin and be present in the environment as well as in food. They comprise a large and diverse group of compounds that may be either beneficial or harmful for consumers. In this review first a non-exhausting overview of interesting phenolics is given, in particular with regards to their presence in environment and food. For some of these compounds, beneficial, toxicological and/or optionally endocrine disrupting activities will be presented. Further, immunochemical detection and/or isolation methods developed will be discussed, including advantages and disadvantages thereof in comparison with conventional analytical methods such as HPLC, GC, MS. A short overview of new sensor-like methods will also be included for present and future application.