Detection of food-born allergens with aptamer-based biosensors

Triggering unpredictable allergic reactions associated with the presence of hidden allergens in the food chains have raised the need for precise, fast and reliable analytical methods to identify food allergens in different sources. Unintentional cross contamination of food products with allergen sources during production, transformation or processing is also an important risk factor for triggering allergenic reactions in suspected individuals. Different types of antibody based detection methods are applied for detection and standardization of food-born allergens. Aptamers attracted a great attention because of their small size, low cast and ease of manufacturing. Several detection strategies have been investigated for food allergen aptasensing such as electrochemical, optical, thermometric and piezoelectric. In this review, advances and the future trends of developed aptasensors for the control and detection of food-born allergens have been discussed.