Toxin immunosensors and sensor arrays for food quality control

Abstract

The global efforts to improve consumer protection and public health lead to an increasing number of analytical approaches applicable to food analysis and process control. Biosensor systems are efficient analytical tools to monitor production processes or storage of nutrition and to control contamination outbreaks as they are easy-touse, fast, and with minimal effort on sample preparation. Relevant targets of immunosensors implemented to food safety are prevalent bacterial toxins (staphylococcal enterotoxins and clostridial toxins), plant toxins (Ricin), mycotoxins (aflatoxins and ochratoxin A), marine toxins, and other pathogenic bacterial contaminations (Listeria, Salmonella, Staphylococcus aureus, or Escherichia coli). These cause acute intoxication and also chronic diseases in humans consuming contaminated food. Promising approaches for the determination of different types of toxins in food matrices will be outlined. The corresponding sensor systems use immunological receptor units such as antibodies or antigens and include optical (fluorescence and surface plasmon resonance), electrochemical, or acoustical readout methods. This review is focused on recent developments of sensor formats devoted to food safety control and is structured according to the type of toxin or contaminant that is recognized. It is intended to give an overview on emerging sensor technologies and their potential applications for the rapid analysis of the most important food poisoning agents.

Aptamers: A Promising Tool for Ochratoxin A Detection in Food Analysis

“…Antibodies have been widely used in immuno-based assays for OTA determination and have become indispensable in most tests required in food control [54,55]. Recently, the use of aptamers as biorecognition elements has improved the performances of biochemical methods.…”

Emerging Trends of Immunosensors Development for Detection of Food Toxins

“…Additionally, portable instruments can be used to perform the entire analysis. Compared to more traditional instrumental techniques like quantitative HPLC, these benefits made ELISAs wellknown, high-throughput assays with low sample volume requirements and frequently fewer involved sample preparation steps (Moises & Schaeferling, 2009;Serrano-Pertierra et al, 2020). The most prevalent toxin contaminations in food matrices have been the focus of numerous assays compiled in Table 2.…”

Rapid Determination of Ochratoxin A in Grape and Its Commodities Based on a Label-Free Impedimetric Aptasensor Constructed by Layer-by-Layer Self-Assembly

“…However, all these methods have the limitation of low specificity, long and expensive detection process, and demand further purification of sample before analyzing [15]. In view of the high specificity and affinity of the antigen-antibody reaction, immunochemical methods become paramount importance in most tests of OTA determination, such as enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) [16,17] and fluorescence polarization immunoassays [18]. Although immunological-based methods are user-friendly and have good sensitivity, these methods often suffer from being time-consuming, difficulty to modify, poor stability of antibodies, and batch to batch variation differences.…”