Nanomaterials-Based Electrochemical Biosensors for Aflatoxin-B1 Detection: Application in Food Safety

In this modern society, food safety has drawn considerable attention owing to the rapidly changing food recipes and their consumption. Numerous foodborne illnesses generated from different types of contaminants are threatening human health seriously. Among the variety of naturally occurring contaminants, aflatoxins are known as the most harmful mycotoxins, ubiquitous in foods and agricultural products (e.g., rice, corn, wheat, groundnuts, and tree nuts). In 2003, annual cost due to the aflatoxin contamination had been estimated ~$500 in the USA, suggesting strong concern to socioeconomic loss. Aflatoxins have been observed to contribute to fatal human diseases such as mental impairment, immune suppression, Reye syndrome, liver cancer, and coma. Several analytical techniques that follow conventional approach to detect aflatoxins suffer with a number of drawbacks. These techniques are tedious, laborious, and time consuming and more importantly overpriced. Thus, there is a great demand to develop a technology that can offer a rapid, sensitive, and specific approach to detect aflatoxin at the trace levels. In recent years, nanotechnology has shown a great potential to resolve food safety issues, particularly with the development of biosensors. In this chapter, numerous studies that have been recently performed to design electrochemical biosensors using various types of nanomaterials for aflatoxin-B1 (AFB1) detection have been summarized. Particularly, the emphasis has been made on various fabrication strategies of the immunosensors and their efficiency. Finally, we highlight their advantages and limitations, with future challenges.