Chapter 16 - Nano Devices for Contaminant Detection

Abstract

In this era, the development of new technological is helping in simplifications of everyday processes including the industrial processes. One such application of technology is in the food industry for both in manufacturing and also in quality assessment and management of synthesized food products. In this field one of the major problems is contamination of both raw materials and products produced in the food industry. A number of chemical sensors are commercially available for field measurements of chemical species (e.g., portable gas chromatographs, surface-wave acoustic sensors, optical instruments), few have been adapted for use in environments for long-term monitoring or remediation applications due to the requirement of significant amounts of manual labor and supervision to operate. Instead, we seek low-cost sensors that have detection limit at very low level concentrations and operated with minimal supervision, which yield continuous real-time monitoring capabilities. In recent, nanotechnology has helped in the development of better contaminant sensors, i.e., sensors that can detect contaminations in food raw materials and food products. Biosensor is low-cost, quick, and reliable compared to existing methods and it can be modified to detect the presence of single or multiple substances using very small samples. Many of the biosensors were available for detecting and monitoring of toxins, contaminants, and residues in food products. Biosensors, also called molecular sensors, can detect the presence of specific chemicals, viruses, or molecules in air or liquids. Some of the sensors/materials like Wireless Networks, microwave coplanar, smart polymer, and other novel biosensors were used to detect the contamination in food products. This chapter presents a review of sensors and technologies that are capable of detecting and monitoring contaminant in the food industry. The review also focuses on the effect of pH, odor, taste, temperature, microbial nature, and other physicochemical parameters in the food products as well sensor quality and its life span. Along with effects, nano-encapsulated enzymes can be used to check and degrade the possible contaminants.