Recent Advances in Food Allergens and Emerging Biosensing Technologies.

Abstract

Food allergies have become a worldwide public health issue, highlighting the critical need for rapid, sensitive, and field-deployable detection strategies. While traditional detection methods offer high accuracy, their high cost, operational complexity, and lengthy analysis time limit their applicability for rapid screening purposes. Emerging biosensing technologies offer innovative solutions. This review first outlined the characteristics of food allergens and conventional detection approaches and subsequently provided a systematic summary of recent developments in fluorescence, colorimetric, surface-enhanced Raman scattering, surface plasmon resonance, and electrochemical sensors, classified according to their signal transduction mechanisms. Furthermore, this review examined the underlying principles, signal amplification mechanisms, analytical performance, and practical validation of different sensor platforms in real-sample analysis. Current challenges include matrix interference, limited multiplexing, poor long-term stability, and the high cost of recognition elements. Future development directions encompass antifouling interfaces, high-throughput platforms, self-powered and wearable technologies, standardized evaluation frameworks, and artificial intelligence algorithms. This review aimed to offer both a theoretical framework and directional guidance to inform future studies and practical implementations of rapid food allergen detection technologies.