ABSTRACT
Safety in the food industry is a primary issue, and to date, most analyses are required to be performed by skilled personnel in accredited laboratories using sophisticated and costly instrumentation such as liquid or gas chromatography, often coupled with mass spectrometry. The miniaturization of optical components allows them to be incorporated into food packaging for ultrafast, noninvasive, visual analysis of food quality in several stages of the product life such as storage, transportation, and consumption. A general classification of nanosensors for the food industry can be based on the detection property, on signal transmission, or based on nanosensors type. The technology has been proposed for encapsulation and delivery in the food and nutraceutical industry. Silicon-based microfluidic devices or femto laser-shaped devices are known as laboratory-on-chip technology and have been used to test food additives such as benzoate, sorbate, beta hydroxyl benzoic acid esters, and glutamate by carrying out electrophoresis in a single chip setup.
