Biosensor in smart food traceability system for food safety and security

Abstract

The burden of food contamination and food wastage has significantly contributed to the increased prevalence of foodborne disease and food insecurity all over the world. Due to this, there is an urgent need to develop a smarter food traceability system. Recent advancements in biosensors that are easy-to-use, rapid yet selective, sensitive, and cost-effective have shown great promise to meet the critical demand for onsite and immediate diagnosis and treatment of food safety and quality control (i.e. point-of-care technology). This review article focuses on the recent development of different biosensors for food safety and quality monitoring. In general, the application of biosensors in agriculture (i.e. pre-harvest stage) for early detection and routine control of plant infections or stress is discussed. Afterward, a more detailed advancement of biosensors in the past five years within the food supply chain (i.e. post-harvest stage) to detect different types of food contaminants and smart food packaging is highlighted. A section that discusses perspectives for the development of biosensors in the future is also mentioned.

Biosensors for Food Mycotoxin Determination: A Comparative and Critical Review

“…The mentioned trends [123,125,191,[202][203][204] for the improvement of detection with biosensors are related to the efficiency of biomolecules, the improvement of their fixation on the transducer, modifications brought to the surfaces or to the pH, the use of nanomaterials, the improvement of detection signals, the possibility of multi-analyte detection, miniaturization, portability. Aptamers, regardless of the detection modality, are considered extremely efficient and described as being superior to ELISA antibody technology, although the affinity of aptamers is considered, in general, weaker compared to that of antibodies [197].…”