Chapter 19 - Recent advances in sensor and biosensor technologies for adulteration detection

Abstract

Driven by economical gain, adulteration has been practiced around the world and it spreads in all sectors such as food, cosmetics and fuels. In order to verify the authenticity of commodities, a set of chemical and physical analytical methods have been successfully used. Today, with technological progress and the growing demand for fast, sensitive, and miniaturized analytical methods, sensors and biosensors have emerged as powerful alternatives for detecting adulterants. This chapter, with 200 references, describes adulteration by focusing on high-profile cases and their impact on consumers’ health, economy, and environment. This chapter provides an in-depth study of the most prominent sensors and biosensors developed in the last decade for adulterants detection in different matrices. This chapter also highlights other sensing methods aimed at simple and rapid detection of adulteration such as electronic-tongue, electronic-nose, and lateral flow-based sensors.