Biosensor in food analysis

Greg Cheng, S.G. and Merchant, Z.M. 1995. Biosensors in food analysis. In Characterization of Food. Emerging Methods (Chapter 14), A.G. Gaonkar, Ed., pp. 329-345. Edition Elsevier B.V., London, U.K. 

One of the few reported uses of fiber-optic biosensors in food analysis in combination with flow injection analysis is the determination of L-glutamate in soups and sauces. This amino acid plays a central role in the oxidative determination of other amino acids and is capable of sensitizing gustatory nerves. Although glutamate occurs naturally in some foods, it is also used as a flavor enhancer. The biosensor was... 

At the time we were editing this book, Professor Mascini passed away. Probably, one of the latest excellent contributions done in his vast successful career is found in this book. In memoriam, editors would like to dedicate him these words as proof of his valuable contribution to the field of electrochemical biosensors in food analysis. 

PANFILI G, MANZI P, COMPAGNONE D, SCARCIGLIA L and PALLESCHI G (2000), Rapid assay of chohne in foods using microwave hydrolysis and a choline biosensor , J Agric Food Chem, 48, 3403-7. pant I and trennery v c (1995), The determination of sorbic acid and benzoic acid in a variety of beverages and foods by micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography , Food Chem, 53(2), 219-26. pare j r j and Belanger j m r (1997), Instrumental Methods in Food Analysis. Series Techniques and instrumentation in analytical chemistry - Vol. 18, Amsterdam, Elsevier. 

Stability, duration, sensitivity, interference, and availability of substrates to contact enzymes are the criteria for the success of an enzyme sensor. These criteria depend on sources of enzymes, immobilization techniques, and transducers used. Food matrices are much more complicated than the clinical samples, hence, these criteria become extremely important for the application of the enzyme sensor in food analysis. An extensive list of the response time, detection limits, and stability of biosensors was summarized by Wagner (59). 

P.A. Paredes, J. Parellada, V.M. Fernandez, I. Katakis and E. Dominguez, Amperometric mediated carbon paste biosensor based on D-fructose dehydrogenase for the determination of fructose in food analysis, Biosens. Bioelectron., 12(12) (1998) 1233-1243. 

A.O. Scott, Biosensors for food analysis perspectives. In A.O. Scott (Ed.), Biosensors for Food Analysis, The Royal Society of Chemistry, London, 1998, pp. 181-195. 

The quality assessment of food and fodder products requires analysis of protein, carbohydrates and fat. The enzyme electrode-based analyzers originally developed for clinical chemistry have found only limited application in food analysis because they are only suitable for the determination of one parameter, mostly glucose or a disaccharide. The increasing concern for food quality require new types of biosensors allowing residual and hygiene control and on-line measurement of age and freshness (Tschannen, 1988). 

Another example connected with the sensitivity, selectivity, and complexity of the matrix is illustrated by the utilization of amperometric biosensors in chemical analysis. It is well known that amperometric biosensors represent the best equilibrium between selectivity and sensitivity needed for an analytical method. Their selectivity can be highly variable in a very complex matrix such as the environment. By using amperometric sensors, the total amount of substances from a certain class are determined. That is the reason these amperometric biosensors cannot assure the accuracy of the analytical methods for analysis of analytes in complex matrices. In food analysis, the complexity of the matrix decreases considerably. Therefore, amperometric biosensors can be used with higher accuracy for the assay of certain compounds. The main field of applicability of amperometric biosensors is clinical analysis, since the matrices in clinical analyses assure for amperometric biosensors the maximum selectivity. 

Guilbault GG, Luong JHT (1995) Piezoelectroc immunosensors and their applications in food analysis. In Guilbault GG, Wagner G (eds) Food biosensor analysis. Dekker, New York... 

Sensors used for determination of pesticide (pro-poxur, paraoxon) residues in vegetables are enzymatic multimembrane devices whose functioning is based on the principle of inhibition of the activity of an enzyme such as acetylcholine esterase. This reaction is monitored by a pH sensor. The response of such biosensors to herbicides and pesticides opens a new area of testing possibilities in food analysis. 

Table 6. Examples of possible applications of biosensors J. Kas et al. in food analysis... 

Kalman, A., Caelen, I., and Svorc, J. 2006. Vitamin and psuedovitamin analysis with biosensors in food products a review. Journal of AO AC International. 89 819-825. 

O Kane, A., and Wahlstrom, L. 2011, Biosensors in vitamin analysis of foods. In Rychlik, M. (ed.) Fortified Foods with Vitamins, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, Germany, pp. 65-75. 

Amperometry is probably one of the most common electroanalytical techniques used in food analysis and there are numerous examples in the literature. Among others, it is worth mentioning analysis of cholesterol [72], vitamins [73, 74], carbohydrates [75, 76], antioxidants [4, 77-79], pesticides [80, 81], and toxins [82]. It is also important to point out that, although not discussed in this chapter, the same instrumental configuration used in amperometry can be used for the development of amperometric biosensors [83-86], electrochemical ELISA assays [87-89], and electrochemical tongues [90,91]. 

Although nanotechnology has been applied in the development of novel biosensors for food analysis, very few of them are used in automated systems, no examples having been found showing their application in nanofluidic systems. 

Physical properties of foods and food processing systems M. J. Lewis Food irradiation a reference guide V. M. Wilkinson and G. Gould Kent s technology of cereals an introduction for students of food science and agriculture Fourth edition N. L. Kent and A. D. Evers Biosensors for food analysis Edited by A. O. Scott Separation processes in the food and biotechnology industries principles and applications Edited by A. S. Grandison and M. J. Lewis... 

D.P. Nikolelisa, M.G. Simantirakia, C.G. Siontoroua, and K. Tothb, Flow injection analysis of carbo-furan in foods using air stable lipid film based acetylcholinesterase biosensor. Anal. Chim. Acta 537, 169-177 (2005). 

Immunosensors have been developed commercially mostly for medical purposes but would appear to have considerable potential for food analysis. The Pharmacia company has developed an optical biosensor, which is a fully automated continuous-flow system which exploits the phenomenon of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) to detect and measure biomolecular interactions. The technique has been validated for determination of folic acid and biotin in fortified foods (Indyk, 2000 Bostrom and Lindeberg, 2000), and more recently for vitamin Bi2. This type of technique has great potential for application to a wide range of food additives but its advance will be linked to the availability of specific antibodies or other receptors for the various additives. It should be possible to analyse a whole range of additives by multi-channel continuous flow systems with further miniaturisation. 

Nedelkov, D., Rasooly, A., and Nelson, R. W. (2000). Multitoxin biosensor-mass spectrometry analysis A new approach for rapid, real-time, sensitive analysis of staphylococcal toxins in food. Int.. Food Microbiol. 60,1-13. 

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