Biosensors Applications in Food Safety

A special issue of Chemosensors (ISSN 2227-9040).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2017) | Viewed by 32645

Special Issue Editor

Surface Engineering and Precision Centre, Cranfield University, Cranfield, Bedfordshire MK43 0AL, UK
Interests: analytical chemistry, biosensors; nanosensors; medicinal devices; supramolecular chemistry; biomarkers; molecular diagnostics; biochips; DNA chips
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Since the advent of the biosensor for glucose monitoring around the mid-1980s, there has been a phenomenal growth in the field of biosensors and rapid diagnostics development with emerging applications in a wide range of disciplines, including food safety and quality for the prevention of foodborne illness. This is as a result of the increasing demand to develop rapid sensing for risk management and also to comply with increasing legislations for safety and quality standards. With the emerging field of nanotechnology, new nanomaterial and micro/nano transducer devices have been introduced to the biosensor arena and applied to develop advanced and highly sensitive sensor devices.

This Special Issue in “Biosensors Applications in Food Safety” will include the latest developments and advances in biosensors developed for food safety, comprising new sensor fabrication technologies, the emerging synthetic receptors and nanomaterials used for their construction. Emphasis will be placed on applications for pathogenic microorganisms and their toxins, plants toxins, pesticides residues and other environmental pollutants, food additives, and allergens. These are some of the examples of what this Special Issue will cover.

Ibtisam E. Tothill
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Biosensors
  • Nanomaterials
  • biomimics
  • Bacteria
  • viruses
  • fungi
  • mycotoxins
  • endotoxins
  • phytotoxins
  • pesticides
  • herbicides
  • food additives
  • metals

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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Article
Low-Frequency Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy as a Monitoring Tool for Yeast Growth in Industrial Brewing Processes
by Christoph Slouka, Georg Christoph Brunauer, Julian Kopp, Michael Strahammer, Jens Fricke, Jürgen Fleig and Christoph Herwig
Chemosensors 2017, 5(3), 24; https://doi.org/10.3390/chemosensors5030024 - 03 Aug 2017
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 6204
Abstract
Today’s yeast total biomass and viability measurements during the brewing process are dependent on offline methods such as methylene blue or florescence dye-based staining, and/or the usage of flow cytometric measurements. Additionally, microscopic cell counting methods decelerate an easy and quick prediction of [...] Read more.
Today’s yeast total biomass and viability measurements during the brewing process are dependent on offline methods such as methylene blue or florescence dye-based staining, and/or the usage of flow cytometric measurements. Additionally, microscopic cell counting methods decelerate an easy and quick prediction of yeast viability. These processes are time consuming and result in a time-delayed response signal, which not only reduces the knowledge of the performance of the yeast itself, but also impacts the quality of the final product. Novel approaches in process monitoring during the aerobic and anaerobic fermentation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae are not only limited to classical pH, dO2 and off-gas analysis, but they also use different in situ and online sensors based on different physical principles to determine the biomass, product quality and cell death. Within this contribution, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was used to monitor the biomass produced in aerobic and anaerobic batch cultivation approaches, simulating the propagation and fermentation unit operation of industrial brewing processes. Increases in the double-layer capacitance (CDL), determined at frequencies below 1 kHz, were proportional to the increase of biomass in the batch, which was monitored in the online and inline mode. A good correlation of CDL with the cell density was found. In order to prove the robustness and flexibility of this novel method, different state-of-the-art biomass measurements (dry cell weight—DCW and optical density—OD) were performed for comparison. Because measurements in this frequency range are largely determined by the double-layer region between the electrode and media, rather minor interferences with process parameters (aeration and stirring) were to be expected. It is shown that impedance spectroscopy at low frequencies is not only a powerful tool for the monitoring of viable yeast cell concentrations during operation, but it is also perfectly suited to determining physiological states of the cells, and may facilitate biomass monitoring in the brewing and yeast-propagating industry drastically. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biosensors Applications in Food Safety)
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3033 KiB  
Article
Surface Plasmon Resonance Immunosensor for the Detection of Campylobacter jejuni
by Noor Azlina Masdor, Zeynep Altintas and Ibtisam E. Tothill
Chemosensors 2017, 5(2), 16; https://doi.org/10.3390/chemosensors5020016 - 16 May 2017
Cited by 60 | Viewed by 8528
Abstract
Campylobacteriosis is an internationally important foodborne disease caused by Campylobacter jejuni. The bacterium is prevalent in chicken meat and it is estimated that as much as 90% of chicken meat on the market may be contaminated with the bacterium. The current gold [...] Read more.
Campylobacteriosis is an internationally important foodborne disease caused by Campylobacter jejuni. The bacterium is prevalent in chicken meat and it is estimated that as much as 90% of chicken meat on the market may be contaminated with the bacterium. The current gold standard for the detection of C. jejuni is the culturing method, which takes at least 48 h to confirm the presence of the bacterium. Hence, the aim of this work was to investigate the development of a Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) sensor platform for C. jejuni detection. Bacterial strains were cultivated in-house and used in the development of the sensor. SPR sensor chips were first functionalized with polyclonal antibodies raised against C. jejuni using covalent attachment. The gold chips were then applied for the direct detection of C. jejuni. The assay conditions were then optimized and the sensor used for C. jejuni detection, achieving a detection limit of 8 × 106 CFU·mL−1. The sensitivity of the assay was further enhanced to 4 × 104 CFU·mL−1 through the deployment of a sandwich assay format using the same polyclonal antibody. The LOD obtained in the sandwich assay was higher than that achieved using commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) (106–107 CFU·mL−1). This indicate that the SPR-based sandwich sensor method has an excellent potential to replace ELISA tests for C. jejuni detection. Specificity studies performed with Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, demonstrated the high specific of the sensor for C. jejuni. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biosensors Applications in Food Safety)
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Review

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2699 KiB  
Review
Electrochemical Biosensors for the Determination of Toxic Substances Related to Food Safety Developed in South America: Mycotoxins and Herbicides
by Héctor Fernández, Fernando J. Arévalo, Adrian M. Granero, Sebastián N. Robledo, César H. Díaz Nieto, Walter I. Riberi and María A. Zon
Chemosensors 2017, 5(3), 23; https://doi.org/10.3390/chemosensors5030023 - 14 Jul 2017
Cited by 29 | Viewed by 7248
Abstract
The goal of achieving food safety and quality has become increasingly important in relevant areas. The achievement of this objective includes a significant effort in different areas related to the production of raw materials, storage, transportation, etc. One of the central areas in [...] Read more.
The goal of achieving food safety and quality has become increasingly important in relevant areas. The achievement of this objective includes a significant effort in different areas related to the production of raw materials, storage, transportation, etc. One of the central areas in the verification of food safety and food quality control is related to the analysis of food components and, in particular, possible toxic substances that they may contain. Therefore, the demand for appropriate methods for the determination of these substances is increasingly demanding. Thus, not only is accuracy and precision sought in the results of the analysis, but also the speed, simplicity and lowering of costs. In this way, electrochemical techniques and, particularly, electrochemical biosensors have emerged in recent times as good candidates to satisfy such requirements. This review summarizes the advances made in research and development centers located in South American countries related to the development of electrochemical biosensors for the determination of toxic substances present in foods, particularly mycotoxins and herbicides. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biosensors Applications in Food Safety)
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5835 KiB  
Review
Electrochemical Affinity Biosensors in Food Safety
by Susana Campuzano, Paloma Yáez-Sedeño and José Manuel Pingarrón
Chemosensors 2017, 5(1), 8; https://doi.org/10.3390/chemosensors5010008 - 20 Feb 2017
Cited by 40 | Viewed by 9943
Abstract
Safety and quality are key issues of today’s food industry. Since the food chain is becoming more and more complex, powerful analytical methods are required to verify the performance of food safety and quality systems. Indeed, such methods require high sensitivity, selectivity, ability [...] Read more.
Safety and quality are key issues of today’s food industry. Since the food chain is becoming more and more complex, powerful analytical methods are required to verify the performance of food safety and quality systems. Indeed, such methods require high sensitivity, selectivity, ability for rapid implementation and capability of automatic screening. Electroanalytical chemistry has, for decades, played a relevant role in food safety and quality assessment, taking more and more significance over time in the solution of analytical problems. At present, the implementation of electrochemical methods in the food is evident. This is in a large part due to the relevant results obtained by combining the attractive advantages of electrochemical transduction strategies (in terms of relatively simple hardware, versatility, interface with automatic logging and feasibility of application outside the laboratory environment) with those from biosensors technology. Important examples of enzyme electrochemical biosensors are those dedicated to the determination of glucose, alcohol or cholesterol are important examples. In addition, other types of different electrochemical biosensing approaches have emerged strongly in the last years. Among these, the strategies involving affinity interactions have been shown to possess a large number of applications. Therefore, electrochemical immunosensors and DNA-based biosensors have been widely used to determine major and minor components in foodstuffs, providing sufficient data to evaluate food freshness, the quality of raw materials, or the origin of samples, as well as to determine a variety of compounds at trace levels related to food safety such as micotoxins, allergens, drugs residues or pathogen microorganisms. This review discusses some critical examples of the latest advances in this area, pointing out relevant methodologies related to the measurement techniques, including the use of nanostructured electrodes and strategies for signal amplification. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biosensors Applications in Food Safety)
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