The quality and safety of agro-products are a global concern due to their
significant role in human health and economy, and the detection of hazards or
ingredients in agro-products is thus essential to ensure safety. Biosensor, as a newlyemerging
but promising detection tool, has contributed a lot in this field. On the one
hand, based on the high sensitivity and specificity of bio-receptors for target capture
and the diversity of transducers for signal transduction, biosensors exhibit capabilities
for highly sensitive, specific, accurate and rapid detection. On the other hand, the
combination/integration with miniaturized and portable platforms/devices endows
biosensors with unrivaled advantages in low-cost, in-field and nondestructive detection.
This chapter gives a systematical introduction of biosensors for the evaluation of
quality and safety of agro-products, emphasizing on new biosensing principles and the
advantages of exceptional analytical performance for rapid and in-field evaluation.
Recent advances in biosensors for the detection of pesticide residues, antibiotic
residues, pathogenic bacteria and mycotoxins, heavy metal ions, food allergens, and
ingredients in agro-products are surveyed (mainly in 2018-2020).
Keywords: Agro-product, Allergen, Antibiotic, Biosensor, Food, Heavy metal
ion, Mycotoxin, Nanotechnology, Nondestructive detection, Pathogenic bacteria,
Pesticide.
