Biosensing technology for sustainable food safety

•We deal with quality and safety claims related to human health.•Biosensing technologies can be exploited to address food safety.•We consider food safety along the entire food production and distribution chain.•Nanotechnology and synthetic biology are moving biosensors from research to market.

Food and diet are closely linked to human health, and new emerging research fields are attempting to guarantee improvements in food quality and safety. Biosensor technology represents a cutting-edge frontier in environmental and biomedical diagnosis and is at the forefront in the agrifood sector. Smart monitoring of nutrients and fast screening of biological and chemical contaminants are some of the key evolving issues challenging the assessment of food quality and safety. Advances in materials science and nanotechnology, electromechanical and microfluidic systems, protein engineering and biomimetics design are boosting sensing technology from bench to market. This review highlights current and future trends in analytical diagnostic tools focused on the food industry and target analytes to support healthier nutrition.