Microbiological Detectors for Food Safety Applications

Abstract

The use of microorganisms as biological weapons has long been reported in history. The most recent was the deliberate release of B. anthracis spores through the postal system in the United States in October 2001, resulting in 22 cases of anthrax and five deaths. Furthermore, there are up to 33 million cases of human illness each year from microbial pathogens in the food supply in the United States alone, with an associated cost of $2‐4 billion in 2006. The complexity of the US food supply chain from cradle to grave provides numerous entry points and routes in which (inadvertent and intentional) contaminants and pathogens can be introduced into the nation's food system. Many of these pathogenic microorganisms have a very low infectious dose to cause fatality. The most vulnerable populations are the very young, the elderly, and immunocompromised individuals. Although highly sensitive, current methods of detection are laborious, require highly skilled personnel, and typically require 2–7 days to obtain conclusive results. Their results are not available in the time‐scale desired in food defense, food quality assurance, or clinical laboratory procedures, which have safety, cost, and quality implications. Rapid on‐site point‐of‐care detection methods for pathogens have hence become a necessity. Biosensors can play a major role in addressing the combined needs for near real‐time diagnosis, specificity, sensitivity, portability, electronic data transmission, field‐based, ease of use, and low cost requirements. This chapter presents biosensors for rapid microbial detection in complex food matrices of concern to homeland security and food safety.