Sensors and biosensors for meat safety: Recent advances in nanotechnology integration

Meat is an important constituent of the human diet and is consumed worldwide mainly because of its valuable nutrients such as protein, fat, iron, zinc, niacin, and vitamins B6 and B12, all of which are essential for balanced and healthy nutrition. However, both meat and poultry can also become a vehicle of human foodborne diseases, mainly due to the potential contamination of food from chemical and biological hazards. In spite of extensive food safety regulations and excellent monitoring systems in the food industry, one of the greatest challenges for authorities is the control of foodborne diseases. The number of foodborne outbreaks associated with eating meat and poultry products is still raising intense consumer concern about meat safety. The continuous developments in livestock practices have posed newer threats in terms of physical, chemical, and biological hazards for the final product quality and related consumer health. New risks, in addition to the most common pathogens, toxins, drugs, pesticides, and heavy metals, have emerged in recent years due to indiscriminate agriculture and animal husbandry practices causing serious health implications in terms of causing illness.