Biosensor in smart food traceability system for food safety and security

ABSTRACT

The burden of food contamination and food wastage has significantly contributed to the increased prevalence of foodborne disease and food insecurity all over the world. Due to this, there is an urgent need to develop a smarter food traceability system. Recent advancements in biosensors that are easy-to-use, rapid yet selective, sensitive, and cost-effective have shown great promise to meet the critical demand for onsite and immediate diagnosis and treatment of food safety and quality control (i.e. point-of-care technology). This review article focuses on the recent development of different biosensors for food safety and quality monitoring. In general, the application of biosensors in agriculture (i.e. pre-harvest stage) for early detection and routine control of plant infections or stress is discussed. Afterward, a more detailed advancement of biosensors in the past five years within the food supply chain (i.e. post-harvest stage) to detect different types of food contaminants and smart food packaging is highlighted. A section that discusses perspectives for the development of biosensors in the future is also mentioned.

Graphical abstract

KEYWORDS:

• Biosensors
• traceability tools
• food safety
• food analysis
• smart packaging
• food contaminants

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author contributions statement

Catarina Meliana: Writing – original draft, Conceptualization, Design; Jingjing Liu: Conceptualization, Investigation; Pau Loke Show: Resources, Writing- Reviewing and Editing; Sze Shin Low: Writing- Reviewing and Editing, Visualization, Supervision, Funding acquisition.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ningbo Yongjiang Talent Introduction Program (2023A-140- G), Ningbo Natural Science Foundation Program (2023J247) and Nottingham Ningbo China Beacons of Excellence Research and Innovation Institute (I01220800008).