Innovative Biosensors: Bridging Technology and Sustainability in Food Safety

Food holds an immense importance in different cultures globally for human well-being and health, and as energy source. Considering the intricate role food serves for human cell growth, development and metabolism; it becomes essential to maintain its quality, safety and hygiene throughout the operation units (farm to fork). Different physical, chemical and biological threats are responsible for affecting the produce and may result in harm/damage/risk if unchecked. Science, technology and innovation (STI) has led to advancements in detection techniques especially sensing technology against these potential threats. Goal:Food is subject to various threats at different stages and places: starting from farm where it is produced to till it reaches our plates. These threats may range from chemical, biological, physical to genetically modified, with few examples being: microbial toxins, pesticides and insecticides, herbicides, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, heavy metals, genetically modified traits (GMOs and others), dioxins, phthalates, colorants and other chemicals etc. Detection of these threats mostly require sample preparation, multi-steps processing, high-end analytical equipments (HPLC, GCMS etc.), costly resources, non-field applications, limited multi- contaminants analysis and method time. Time- and cost- intensive process not only delays the threat determination, identification of disease or side-effect outbreaks, product recalls, mitigating risk and call for safety measures but also affect the stakeholders through socio-economic implications. To overcome these drawbacks, sensing technologies have emerged as a promising alternative. The prominent biosensors well studied and evaluated in past few years are bioreceptor sensors (substrate-specific enzyme based, antibody-antigen, nucleic acid, bacteriophage, cellular etc.), optical sensors, electrochemical sensors, mass-sensitive sensors, FTIR sensors etc. But recently with the scientific advancements, the field is visualising major shift marked by introduction of Hydrogel biosensors, Biodegradable sensors, Nanozyme based- and Smartphone-assisted- colorimetric sensors, Paper- and Strip based (intelligent) biosensors, Artificial intelligence integrated sensors, Fabric-based visualization biosensor, Biosensor Coupled Machine Learning, IoT-Enabled Biosensors, Metasurface-Based Biosensor, Microfluidic Platforms, multi-biomarker biosensors, Conjugated Polymer-Based Smart Biosensors, Carbon-dots biosensors, Thermal Biosensors etc. These sensors will offer advantage not only in increased accuracy, less time duration for assessment and threat identification but also cost-, less preparation, on-field application and ease-of-handling advantages. The present research topic aims towards:a) Understanding the diverse types and scale of prevalent threats (common and prominent) while identifying the emerging threatsb) Understanding the ways in which sensing technology may help in mitigating the risk associated with both established and emerging threatsc) Identifying emerging sensors of the field (the advantages, limitations and sustainable aspects)d) Understanding the advancements and latest innovationse) Understanding the challenges associated with the scaling-up of these technologies from lab to pilot and then to field applications/industrial applicationsf) Understanding the ways in which science, technology and innovation policies; technology transfer, industry-academia linkages, patenting, regulatory frameworks etc. may integrate closely with agri-food policies towards addressing the food safety concerns arising from these threatsScope (Themes):The RT covers all types of publications such as review, research etc:1) diverse foods and forms2) diversified threats (physical/chemical/biological/genetically modified) of agri-food safety systems (including less focused/studied and emergent)3) covers entire stages of the agri-food system chain i.e. farm to fork4) covers sensing technology including novel innovations and new materials, AI, IoT/ML, Strip based sensing and smartphone technology5) covers prototypes to advance stage applications6) covers studies focusing on sensors functionality for both/any type of market: unorganized and organized, multiple contaminants and multiple food products7) sustainable solutions – greenness assessment8) challenges and opportunities for the sensing industries, scope for start-ups and technology scaling-up9) STI policy outlook on these food safety concerns and role of sensing technologies Topic editors: Lochan Singh, Kavita Arora, Sankarganesh P Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/76380/innovative-biosensors-bridging-technology-and-sustainability-in-food-safety