In situ food-borne pathogen sensors in a nanoconfined space by surface enhanced Raman scattering

Abstract

The incidence of disease arising from food-borne pathogens is increasing continuously and has become a global public health problem. Rapid and accurate identification of food-borne pathogens is essential for adopting disease intervention strategies and controlling the spread of epidemics. Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) has attracted increasing interest due to the attractive features including simplicity, rapid measurement, and high sensitivity. It can be used for rapid in situ sensing of single and multicomponent samples within the nanostructure-based confined space by providing molecular fingerprint information and has been demonstrated to be an effective detection strategy for pathogens. This article aims to review the application of SERS to the rapid sensing of food-borne pathogens in food matrices. The mechanisms and advantages of SERS, and detection strategies are briefly discussed. The latest progress on the use of SERS for rapid detection of food-borne bacteria and viruses is considered, including both the labeled and label-free detection strategies. In closing, according to the current situation regarding detection of food-borne pathogens, the review highlights the challenges faced by SERS and the prospects for new applications in food safety. Graphical abstract In this review, the advances on the SERS detection of pathogens over the past decades have been reviewed, focusing on the improvements in sensitivity, reproducibility, specificity, and the performance of the SERS-based assay in complex analytical scenarios.

Keywords: Bacterium; Food analysis; Food pathogens; Nanoconfined space; Nanostructures; SERS; Virus detection.

Graphical abstract

In this review, the advances on the SERS detection of pathogens over the past decades have been reviewed, focusing on the improvements in sensitivity, reproducibility, specificity, and the performance of the SERS-based assay in complex analytical scenarios.

Scheme 1

Typical SERS detection configurations: label-free detection and labeled detection

Fig. 1

a, b The rapid detection of Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa by using Au@Ag nanoparticle-coated mussel shell. Reprinted with permission from ref. . c The scheme for preparing 3D-shaped controllable nanostructures for the detection of bacteria. d SEM images of Escherichia coli, S. enterica, and Staphylococcus xylosus on various nanostructures. Reprinted with permission from ref.

Fig. 2

A SERS detection of CaDPA from B. subtilis spores. Reprinted with permission from ref. . B Schematic for monitoring of gas metabolites from contaminated samples. C Photos of a SERS “nose” and pork inoculated with Au nanostars-coated flat filter and bacteria. b Photo showing the point-of-care sensing with a user-friendly SERS device. c–f Typical SERS spectra of (i), E. coli (ii), S. aureus (iii), and P. aeruginosa (iv) acquired from (c, d) medium and (e, f) inoculated pork samples. Reprinted with permission from ref.

Fig. 3

a Scheme of the DNA detection with the Au particle-on-wire SERS platform. b Representation of the SERS detection of patterned multiplex pathogen DNA. Reprinted with permission from ref.

Fig. 4

a Schemes of various SERS tags and the application in bacteria detection. Reprinted with permission from ref. . b Schematic representation of the solid phase substrate for SERS detection. Reprinted with permission from ref.

Fig. 5

a Schematic for the magnetic-based SERS immunoassay. Reprinted with permission from ref. . b The synthesis of antibody-coated Fe₃O₄@Ag magnetic tags and the related strip detection of two respiratory viruses. Reprinted with permission from ref. . c, d A dual SERS immunoassay based on plasmonic/magnetic molybdenum trioxide nanocubes anchored on single-layer graphene oxide. Reprinted with permission from ref.