Applications of electrospun nanofibers in food safety and quality analysis: A review

Background

Rising living standards have heightened the demand for fresh, safe, and nutritious food, necessitating advanced food quality and safety monitoring technologies. Electrospun nanofibers (ENFs) are gaining increasing attention as key materials in the development of high-performance sensing platforms for food safety and quality monitoring owing to their high surface area, porosity, and customizable structures.

Scope and approach

This review provides a comprehensive overview of recent advances in the application of ENFs for food analysis. It highlights their roles and mechanisms in detecting environmental toxins, identifying foodborne pathogens, analyzing food components, and monitoring freshness. Furthermore, the benefits, limitations, and future development directions of ENFs in food analysis are discussed.

Key findings and conclusions

ENFs can serve as effective materials for sample pretreatment, enhancing detection sensitivity, streamlining procedures, and reducing detection times through target analyte adsorption and enrichment. They also hold considerable potential as scaffolds for sensors that enable rapid and accurate detection of various food analytes. However, challenges related to standardization and environmental impact must be addressed to transition ENFs from laboratory research to practical applications.