Innovative Biosensors for Reliable Food Safety and Authentication

Dear Colleagues,

Ensuring food safety and authenticity remains a critical global challenge, as contamination, adulteration, and foodborne outbreaks continue to threaten public health and trade. This special issue of Biosensors highlights recent advances in biosensing technologies that offer rapid, reliable, and portable solutions for food analysis and monitoring.

Traditional detection methods, such as chromatography and ELISA, often face challenges related to low efficiency, costly equipment, and limited on-site use. In contrast, biosensors offer exceptional specificity, sensitivity, and real-time detection, enabling on-site decision-making and early risk prevention.

Topics of Interest

This Special Issue invites contributions focusing on, but not limited to, the following themes:

• Detection of Food Contaminants: Novel biosensors for pesticide residues, heavy metals, foodborne pathogens (e.g., E. coli O157:H7), mycotoxins, and adulterants.
• Advanced Materials and Methods: Development of biosensors using nanomaterials, molecularly imprinted polymers, and cell-free systems.
• Smart and Portable Devices: AI-assisted nucleic acid sensors, smartphone-based colorimetric systems, and IoT-integrated real-time monitoring platforms.

Matrix Adaptation Strategies: Optimization of pretreatment and anti-interference methods for complex food matrices (e.g., dairy, meat, fruits).

Submission Scope

We welcome original research articles, comprehensive reviews, technical notes, and perspective papers that achieve the following:

• Present innovative biosensor designs or new analytical applications;
• Summarize current trends and challenges in food biosensing;
• Discuss industrial translation, regulatory frameworks, and commercialization pathways.

By showcasing multidisciplinary advances, this Special Issue aims to accelerate the translation of biosensing innovations from laboratory research to real-world food systems, contributing to global efforts toward safe, authentic, and sustainable food production and trade.

Dr. Dong Li
Dr. Muhammad Shoaib
Prof. Dr. Xiaoli Li
Dr. Imran Mahmood Khan
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Biosensors is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.