Abstract
Food detection technologies play a vital role in ensuring food safety in the supply chains. Conventional food detection methods for biological, chemical, and physical contaminants are labor-intensive, expensive, time-consuming, and often alter the food samples. These limitations drive the need of the food industry for developing more practical food detection tools that can detect contaminants of all three classes. Raman spectroscopy can offer widespread food safety assessment in a non-destructive, ease-to-operate, sensitive, and rapid manner. Recent advances of Raman spectroscopic methods further improve the detection capabilities of food contaminants, which largely boosts its applications in food safety. In this review, we introduce the basic principles of Raman spectroscopy, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), and micro-Raman spectroscopy and imaging; summarize the recent progress to detect biological, chemical, and physical hazards in foods; and discuss the limitations and future perspectives of Raman spectroscopic methods for food safety surveillance. This review is aimed to emphasize potential opportunities for applying Raman spectroscopic methods as a promising technique for food safety detection.
Highlights
Biosensors 2021, 11, 187. https://Food safety has become an important issue as our food system is vulnerable
As large physical contaminants can be detected by visual inspection, sieves, or screening machines, we focus on the determination of plastic particles as they are widely found in packaging materials
85 maize samples naturally contaminated with zearalenone concentrations ranging between 6.9–800.2 μg/kg were detected by Raman spectroscopy, and results were validated by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) [63]
Summary
Contaminated food has been shown to cause severe health problems and death as well as impact economic growth [1]. Detection of contaminants in the food supply chain is critical to ensure safe food. Raman spectroscopy is one of the few techniques that can detect contaminants of all three classes in a rapid, sensitive, non-destructive, and relatively inexpensive manner [3,4]. Biosensors 2021, 11, x FOR PEER REVIEW current challenges, and outline the broad application potential of Raman spectroscopy for food safety. Show current challenges, and outline the broad application potential of Raman spectroscopy for food safety
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