Food safety issues are a major threat to public health and have attracted much attention. Therefore, exploring accurate, efficient, sensitive, and economical detection methods is necessary to ensure consumers’ health. In this regard, cyclodextrins (CDs) are promising candidates because they are nontoxic and noncaloric. The main body of CDs is a ring structure with hydrophobic cavity and hydrophilic exterior wall. Due to the above characteristics, CDs can encapsulate small guest molecules into their cavities, enhance their stability, avoid agglomeration and oxidation, and, at the same time, interact through hydrogen bonding and electrostatic interactions. Additionally, they can selectively capture the target molecules to be detected and improve the sensitivity of food detection. This review highlights recent advances in CD inclusion technology in food safety analysis, covering various applications from small molecule and heavy metal sensing to amino acid and microbial sensing. Finally, challenges and prospects for CDs and their derivatives are presented. The current review can provide a reference and guidance for current research on CDs in the food industry and may inspire breakthroughs in this field.

Developing robust and sensitive food safety detection methods is important for human health. Electrochemiluminescence (ECL) is a powerful analytical technique for complete separation of input source (electricity) and output signal (light), thereby significantly reducing background ECL signal. ECL biosensors have attracted considerable attention owing to their high sensitivity and wide dynamic range in food safety detection. In this review, we introduce the principles of ECL biosensors and common ECL luminophores, as well as the latest applications of ECL biosensors in food analysis. Further, novel nanomaterial assembly strategies have been progressively incorporated into the design of ECL biosensors, and by demonstrating some representative works, we summarize the development status of ECL biosensors in detection of mycotoxins, heavy metal ions, antibiotics, pesticide residues, foodborne pathogens, and other illegal additives. Finally, the current challenges faced by ECL biosensors are outlined and the future directions for advancing ECL research are presented.

Mercury ions (Hg2+) have persistent bioaccumulation and high toxicity, which can severely damage the ecological system and human health. Therefore, sensitive methods are required for Hg2+ analysis. Herein, a DNA-mediated growth strategy was developed for the synthesis of platinum nanoparticles (PtNPs) on the surface of graphene oxide (GO). The resulting GO-DNA-PtNPs displayed excellent peroxidase-mimicking activity in a sequence-dependent manner. The peroxidase-mimicking activity could be significantly inhibited by Hg2+ because of the specific trapping of Hg2+ by thymine bases (T–Hg2+–T) and in situ reduction of Hg2+ by PtNPs on the GO surface. Under optimal conditions, there was a good linear range from 1 pM to 1 μM with a detection limit of 2.2 pM for Hg2+ analysis. This sensor demonstrated excellent analytical performance for assessing Hg2+ in complex lake waters. This work provides an effective strategy for the preparation of PtNP-based nanozymes and broadens the applications of PtNPs for biosensing.

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