Electrochemical biosensors for Salmonella: State of the art and challenges in food safety assessment

•An overview of the commercially available rapid methods for Salmonella detection was provided.•The state-of-art and the newest technologic approaches in electrochemical biosensors for Salmonella detection were presented.•Current challenges of electrochemical Salmonella biosensors towards on-site rapid food safety assessment were identified.•Further evaluation of Salmonella electrochemical biosensors for on-site food control is necessary.

According to the recent statistics, Salmonella is still an important public health issue in the whole world. Legislated reference methods, based on counting plate methods, are sensitive enough but are inadequate as an effective emergency response tool, and are far from a rapid device, simple to use out of lab. An overview of the commercially available rapid methods for Salmonella detection is provided along with a critical discussion of their limitations, benefits and potential use in a real context. The distinguished potentialities of electrochemical biosensors for the development of rapid devices are highlighted. The state-of-art and the newest technologic approaches in electrochemical biosensors for Salmonella detection are presented and a critical analysis of the literature is made in an attempt to identify the current challenges towards a complete solution for Salmonella detection in microbial food control based on electrochemical biosensors.