Nanosensing and nanobiosensing: Concepts, methods, and applications for quality evaluation of liquid foods

Recent developments in nanoscience and technology show promising potential in food science, across every point of the food supply chain. One interesting field is the capabilities and merits of nanotechnology-based quality evaluation of foods. Nanosensors and nanobiosensors are emerging alternative techniques for the quantification of a range of chemicals, toxins, and microbial contaminants in food products. They are proven to show high specificity, simplicity, and affordability, in comparison with conventional techniques. This article focuses on liquid foods, given the challenges associated. While there are different sensing approaches and different methods of fabricating these sensing devices, their selection is application-specific. In the past decade, several works have documented their potential for the detection of toxins, pathogens, heavy metals, chemical contaminants, and food components. This review summarizes these applications, also providing insights on intelligent packaging systems, and concludes with challenges and the need for future research.