Electrochemical Affinity Biosensors Based on Disposable Screen-Printed Electrodes for Detection of Food Allergens

Abstract

Food allergens are proteins from nuts and tree nuts, fish, shellfish, wheat, soy, eggs or milk which trigger severe adverse reactions in the human body, involving IgE-type antibodies. Sensitive detection of allergens in a large variety of food matrices has become increasingly important considering the emergence of functional foods and new food manufacturing technologies. For example, proteins such as casein from milk or lysozyme and ovalbumin from eggs are sometimes used as fining agents in the wine industry. Nonetheless, allergen detection in processed foods is a challenging endeavor, as allergen proteins are degraded during food processing steps involving heating or fermentation. Detection of food allergens was primarily achieved via Enzyme-Linked Immuno Assay (ELISA) or by chromatographic methods. With the advent of biosensors, electrochemical affinity-based biosensors such as those incorporating antibodies and aptamers as biorecognition elements were also reported in the literature. In this review paper, we highlight the success achieved in the design of electrochemical affinity biosensors based on disposable screen-printed electrodes towards detection of protein allergens. We will discuss the analytical figures of merit for various disposable screen-printed affinity sensors in relation to methodologies employed for immobilization of bioreceptors on transducer surface.

Electrochemical Affinity Biosensors in Food Safety

“…Food allergy, a type of adverse reaction to food, dependent on the susceptibility of the host, is produced by an immunological mechanism resulting from ingestion, contact or inhalation of certain substances presented in food known as allergens (mainly proteins from nuts and tree nuts, fish, shellfish, wheat, soy, eggs or milk [85]). Since the contact with food processing surfaces or sharing food utensils could constitute inadvertent routes of oral exposure to allergens, it is highly recommended to perform allergen screening, apart from food, in sanitation activities.…”

“…Nowadays, food allergy is considered a problem of public-health relevance with the main concern being the unintentional exposure of allergic consumers to the offending ingredient through allergen containing food. It affects 2%-3% of adults and up to 10% of children in industrialized countries with the majority of allergies persisting through lifetime [85]. Since there is no cure for allergies yet, the strict elimination of allergens from the diet and the availability of reliable and fast methods for detection and quantification of food allergens are the only options to ensure compliance with food labeling and improve consumer protection [86].…”

“…Worth to mention also the increasing tendency to fabricate these electrochemical biosensors onto screen-printed electrodes (SPEs) [85,[95][96][97][98][99][100][101][102][103][104]107,109,112,113] since they are suitable to be fabricated with different materials, to be drawn in diverse geometries and multiplexed formats and Recently, Sugawara et al [116] developed an electrochemical biosensor to detect ovalbumin (OVA) by adsorbing a specific peptide probe (peptide-1) conjugated with the electroactive daunomycin on a GCE. In the presence of OVA, the peptide probe was released from the electrode surface and the DPV peak current of the daunomycin moiety decreased.…”

“…Worth to mention also the increasing tendency to fabricate these electrochemical biosensors onto screen-printed electrodes (SPEs) [85,[95][96][97][98][99][100][101][102][103][104]107,109,112,113] since they are suitable to be fabricated with different materials, to be drawn in diverse geometries and multiplexed formats and characterized by the possibility for mass production and low fabrication cost. MBs-based biosensors have also been described for food allergens determination [94,97,99,103,104] making use of the advantages of these magnetic carriers in the final performance of electrochemical biosensors in terms of simplicity, sensitivity, reduced assay time and minimization of matrix effects, essential for the analysis of complex food extracts.…”

Feasibility Study of Biosensors Based on Polymelamine‐modified Screen‐printed Carbon Electrodes

“…A number of studies have reported the electrochemical sensing of IgE [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16], with C, Pt, and Au being employed as electrode materials for the screen-printed electrochemical transducers used in allergen detection. Subsequent modification and functionalization of these materials was therefore aimed at promoting faster charge transfer, the stable attachment of bioreceptors, and enhancing the loading capacity of biomolecules.…”