Resilient sustainable current and emerging technologies for foodborne pathogen detection

Abstract

Foodborne pathogens such as Salmonella, Escherichia coli and Listeria pose significant risks to human health. The World Health Organization estimates that 2.2 million deaths per year are directly caused by foodborne and waterborne bacterial diseases worldwide. Accordingly, detecting pathogens in food is essential to ensure that our food is safe. This review explores the critical role of novel technologies in enhancing food safety practices whilst delving into adopting and integrating innovative, resilient and sustainable approaches in the food supply chain. Further, applying novel, emerging advanced analytical techniques such as Raman spectroscopy and nanotechnology based biosensors in food contamination detection is discussed. These advanced technologies show the promise of real-time monitoring, traceability, and predictive analytics to identify and mitigate potential hazards before they reach consumers. They can provide rapid and accurate results and ensure the integrity of food products. Furthermore, the herein-highlighted synergistic integration of these technologies offers a promising path toward a safer and more transparent food system, thereby addressing the challenges of today's globalised food market and laying the platform for developing multimodal technologies for affordable, sensitive and rapid pathogen detection along the different stages of the food chain, from “farm to fork”.