Recent advances on development of portable biosensors for monitoring of biological contaminants in foods

Background: There is a demand for easy, rapid and affordable analysis of biological contaminants in foods to guarantee their safety and quality. Most analysis of food contaminants is commonly performed in a limited number of samples in centralized laboratories by an expert technician. Therefore, developing of alternative techniques such as portable biosensors is of great significance. Scope and approach: This review aims to discuss the recent advances in designing and applying of portable biosensors for the detection of biological food contaminants including bacteria, fungi and the related toxins. Also, the review deals briefly the basic knowledge of various portable biosensors which have been developed for the contaminants detection. Moreover, the developed portable biosensors for different biological contaminants are discussed in details. Key findings and conclusions: Portable biosensors are tiny, accessible and movable diagnostic devices which provide online detection of biological contaminations. Nanotechnology, microfluidic, electronic and biological design strategies as well as wireless networking capabilities help researchers to design and developed portable biosensors. During the recent years several portable devices with high sensitivity and selectivity have been developed for the monitoring biological food contaminants. These biosensors are based on various principles, such as electrochemical, magnetic and optical properties. Introduction of recent advances of the portable biosensors will help researchers to design or promote novel and advanced portable biosensors for food contaminants detection.