Strategic detection of food contaminants using nanoparticle-based paper sensors

Food is necessary for survival, and contamination can shorten humans' lives on Earth in all dimensions. Real-time screening of food pollutants, such as toxins, infectious agents, and chemical contaminants, is in high demand today. Thus, a cost-effective and ecologically benign technology must be developed to detect food contamination in a rapid fashion. Nanoparticle (NP)-based paper sensors are one of the most important alternatives to traditional methods because these are simple, inexpensive, highly selective, and sensitive tools. This article provides an overview of NP-based paper sensor techniques for detecting toxic food contaminants. The graphical abstract defines the food safety-associated sensing applications of different paper-based analytical devices (PADs) against various food impurities where bioactive paper, lateral flow assay (LFA), and microfluidic PAD showing ultrasensitive response for pathogens, heavy metals, antioxidants, mycotoxins, pesticides, and allergens present in variety of foods.image