ABSTRACT
The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations predicts that food production will need to increase by 70% by 2050 in order to meet the demands of the projected growth in population. This projected increase and the constant risk posed from contaminants puts greater pressure on the food industry to provide safe food to the consumer and to meet the demands for food production. The use of nanomaterials has proven invaluable in signal amplification in immunoassays, resulting in detection of a single cell in some cases. For example, Wang and colleagues formed a sandwich complex using Salmonella species-specific antibodies and antibody-coated gold nanoparticles. Livestock production is increasing significantly as a consequence of the rise in the human population, leading to a higher need for food products and the removal of the ‘cap’ on milk production in Europe in 2015.
