Biosensors as Novel Platforms for Detection of Food Pathogens and Allergens

Abstract

Food safety involves preparation and storage of food in different ways to prevent food-borne illness. Ever increasing incidences of food-borne diseases have led food industry to employ rapid and inexpensive method of analysis. It is important not only for health, but also from economic point of view because food-borne diseases result in financial losses. Stringent laws have been made for preparation, packaging, and storage of food. Various techniques are used in food industry but biosensing has received considerable attention due to its high specificity and quick response at low cost. The present review describes use of biosensors for the detection of various pathogens, allergens, pesticide residues, natural contaminants, and other toxic substances in food. Different types of biosensors are used to serve the purpose of food quality assurance such as electrochemical, optical, piezoelectric, and thermometric. Various materials such as monoclonal antibodies, aptamers, RNA, and DNA have been used to enhance the sensitivity and specificity of biosensors for food. Employment of nanoparticles in fabrication of biosensors has shown remarkable potential because of their unique properties at small scale. A wide variety of nanomaterials such as carbon nanotubes, nanoparticles, nanowires, and quantum dots have been used for fabrication of biosensors. Attempts have been made to achieve real-time detection of food contaminants and a little success has been obtained in this regard because more or less, almost every technique requires sample preparation. Highly sensitive and selective biosensors have been developed which showed great potential to mark the presence of food contaminants close to real-time detection. Sensing strategies are moving towards the perfection to obtain real-time detection while assuring high quality of food which is free from any type of contamination.