Evaluation of Quality and Safety of Agro-products Based on Bio-sensing Technique

The quality and safety of agro-products are a global concern due to their significant role in human health and economy, and the detection of hazards or ingredients in agro-products is thus essential to ensure safety. Biosensor, as a newlyemerging but promising detection tool, has contributed a lot in this field. On the one hand, based on the high sensitivity and specificity of bio-receptors for target capture and the diversity of transducers for signal transduction, biosensors exhibit capabilities for highly sensitive, specific, accurate and rapid detection. On the other hand, the combination/integration with miniaturized and portable platforms/devices endows biosensors with unrivaled advantages in low-cost, in-field and nondestructive detection. This chapter gives a systematical introduction of biosensors for the evaluation of quality and safety of agro-products, emphasizing on new biosensing principles and the advantages of exceptional analytical performance for rapid and in-field evaluation. Recent advances in biosensors for the detection of pesticide residues, antibiotic residues, pathogenic bacteria and mycotoxins, heavy metal ions, food allergens, and ingredients in agro-products are surveyed (mainly in 2018-2020).

Keywords: Agro-product, Allergen, Antibiotic, Biosensor, Food, Heavy metal ion, Mycotoxin, Nanotechnology, Nondestructive detection, Pathogenic bacteria, Pesticide.