Quantum Dots for Toxin Detection in Foods and Beverages

Abstract

Food safety is a complex issue that significantly affects human health and industry. Bacteria are everywhere and can contaminate food and beverages, and some bacteria and fungi can produce toxins; in such cases, the identification of pathogens alone is not sufficient to prevent harm. Therefore, rapid, sensitive, and easy detection methods for these microorganisms’ toxins are urgently necessary. More specifically, the development of new methods for toxin detection is of vital importance to national organizations responsible for overseeing food and beverage quality control (such as the Food and Drug Administration in the United States). Optical (bio)sensors are a reliable and fast-sensing tool for point-of-care assays. Quantum dots (QDs) are ultrasmall nanoparticles that are suitable for use in optical (bio)sensors due to their superior photostability, size-dependent optical properties, high extinction coefficient, and (in the case of some more recently developed QDs) simple methods of preparation. To the best of our knowledge, a few QDs-based (bio)sensors have been reported for the detection of pathogen toxins in food and beverages, with a limited number for bacterial toxin detection. Herein, we will discuss QD-based biosensors for toxin detection and provide an overview of biocompatible sensors for food safety evaluation that deliver results more quickly than current gold-standard methods while upholding existing requirements for reliability and sensitivity.