Nano-Biosensors for the Monitoring of Toxic Contaminants in Food and it's Products

Abstract

Food and food products consist of all essential nutrients required for every human being, but nowadays food and food products are being contaminated with various toxic non-microbial contaminants like mycotoxins, pesticides, and heavy metals. The overuse of pesticides in agriculture is due to increased food supply that subsequently enters the food chain. Mycotoxins and heavy metals enter the food chain due to ingestion of mycotoxin-contaminated feed and industrial effluent discharge. Contamination of food products with these toxic contaminants is a serious concern worldwide as it causes hazardous effects to human, animals, and the environment. Inevitably, consumer expectations are getting very high for safe food. Nanobiosensors are playing vital role in food processing, food packaging, and detection of toxic contaminants due to their advanced sensing mechanism. In this chapter, we have extensively covered the diverse types of nanosensors for the monitoring of the most prevalent mycotoxins, pesticides, and heavy metals in food items, along with their mechanisms. Nanobiosensors show high sensitivity, selectivity, and cost effectiveness, along with the improved shelf life of food, which leads to drastic improvement of food product quality and safety.