New Frontiers in the Agrifood Field: Sustainability and Precision Farming Nowadays it is a common knowledge that to sustain the global increasing demand forecast for the next centuries in the food production system, sustainable practices should be adopted to protect the environment and human health. Food production and consumption have a strong impact on the environment in terms of greenhouse gas emission, water and soil contamination, reduction of arable lands, water consumption and many others, which in turn negatively affect also human health. Also these issues produce heavy consequences on the economic development. To address these challenges, it became mandatory for a close cooperation among scientists with different expertise, policymakers and economists to develop new smart technologies, introduce them on the market and formulate adequate regulations. In this regard, a sustainable food production system could be thought as a chain of procedures with low impact on the environment and able to guarantee a secured supply of healthier and fortified food, supporting at the same time the economic growth. The development and exploitation of biosensors as supporting tools along the entire food production chain meet these criteria allowing the detection of food quality and safety with a reduced level of CO2 emissions, and organic solvent released in the environment compared with the conventional analytical tools. Indeed biosensor technology has the high potential to guarantee a comprehensive control among all the single steps of the food supply chain, from the crop cultivation and harvesting, to food process, transportation, packaging and distribution. Sensor technology is at the leading edge of the development in almost every sector. The market for sensors grew from EUR 81.6 billion in 2006 to EUR 119.4 billion in 2011 and can be expected to grow to EUR 184.1 billion until 2016, according to the newWorld Report entitled 'Sensors Markets 2016' published by Intechno Consulting, Basel (Switzerland). A huge amount of this market is represented by the biosensor revolution promoting sustainable foods in the near future. In this context, this book will discuss about the last trends on biosensor technologies, including (1) advanced technologies for fast, sensitive and costeffective determination of different targets to ensure food quality, safety, authenticity and traceability as well as (2) emerging technologies for crop xvii monitoring, accurate analysis of soil nutrients and pesticides or for maximizing the efficiency of water use for a smart agriculture. Thus the emerging innovations in biosensor technology devoted to food quality and safety control will be discussed in the first section 'Biosensors for food safety, quality and security'. The concepts of food quality and safety are crucial issues to get a sustainable and healthy food. Appearance, taste, smell, nutritional value content, functional ingredients, freshness, flavour and texture are all crucial parameters to be considered to this regards, together with its comprehensive estimation of freshness and the evaluation of the correct composition of the natural components (eg, sugars, amino acids and alcohols) and additives (eg, vitamins and minerals). On the other hand, safe foods should respect the legal limits regarding pesticides, heavy metals, pathogens and toxins, to avoid serious damages of human health and well-being, and consequent burdens on health-care system and economic productivity. In this overall scenario, the last trends on biosensors will be described considering the main advantages and limitations of this technology, to minimize threats that cause unsafe or offquality food. With the aim to optimize biosensing performances for a smart food chain monitoring, the last trends on synthetic biology and biomimetic chemistry will be addressed in the second section 'New generations of synthetic receptors and functional materials for food biosensors', to foster the development of tailormade bioreceptors with desired features in terms of stability and sensitivity. These extraordinary disciplines have been largely exploited in the last years to obtain ad-hoc bioreceptors with desired features of robustness, sensitivity and useful detection range. For this reason, the last tendencies on artificial molecules (ie, aptamers) and functional materials (ie, biomimetic surfaces) will be discussed to redesign the configuration of the sensing elements or by producing novel synthetic entities mimicking key properties of natural molecules. The third section 'New technologies improving biosensor efficacy' deals with the nanotechnology approach, the biocompatible integration of electronics and the (bio)microfluidics to design ad-hoc sensing systems, meeting the requirements for effective monitoring of the food supply chain. The use of emerging nanomaterial will be debated to either develop novel smart analytical methods or improve the existing ones. In addition, the recent progresses in microelectronics and microfluidics will be highlighted to foster the development of accurate, low-cost and ready-to-use biosensors. The fourth section 'Biosensor trade in agrifood sector' provides significant and up-to-date information about the commercially available biosensors in the agrifood sector. Considering the international concern with food quality and safety, biosensor development occupies an enormous space in the market, also due to the growing interest of companies in realizing analytical systems with an effective commercial success. However, despite the huge literature on xviii Preface biosensors applied in food analysis, only few systems are able to reach the market. This section aims to highlight the main limitations that should be faced, in terms of biological components, mass production, handling convenience, specificity and timesaving. The fifth section 'New revolutionary frontiers in biosensor technology' debates on the emerging technologies, including laser scanning approaches, robotic-based analytical tools, intelligent food packaging and ICT tools, developed with the aim of supplying the entire food supply chain, managing excess and waste of food and boosting up precision farming. By profiling the advances accomplished in recent years in synthetic biology, new material design (biohybrids), nanotechnology, micro/ nanofluidics, ICT and so on, the main ambition of this book is to strengthen the relationship between high-tech researchers, industrial professionals, and national governments to promote a uniform synergistic research programme to develop innovative, tailor-made biosensors for a sustainable agrifood management. The precious contribution of scientists, working on multidisciplinary researches on biosensing technology, will shed light on the emerging, vanguard and forthcoming knowledge to overcome the main limitations hindering the transition of biosensors from the bench to the market, promote a sustainable agriculture and lay the foundations for a bio-based economy.
Biosensors for Sustainable Food-New Opportunities and Technical Challenges
Viviana scognamiglio;Giuseppina Rea;
2016
Abstract
New Frontiers in the Agrifood Field: Sustainability and Precision Farming Nowadays it is a common knowledge that to sustain the global increasing demand forecast for the next centuries in the food production system, sustainable practices should be adopted to protect the environment and human health. Food production and consumption have a strong impact on the environment in terms of greenhouse gas emission, water and soil contamination, reduction of arable lands, water consumption and many others, which in turn negatively affect also human health. Also these issues produce heavy consequences on the economic development. To address these challenges, it became mandatory for a close cooperation among scientists with different expertise, policymakers and economists to develop new smart technologies, introduce them on the market and formulate adequate regulations. In this regard, a sustainable food production system could be thought as a chain of procedures with low impact on the environment and able to guarantee a secured supply of healthier and fortified food, supporting at the same time the economic growth. The development and exploitation of biosensors as supporting tools along the entire food production chain meet these criteria allowing the detection of food quality and safety with a reduced level of CO2 emissions, and organic solvent released in the environment compared with the conventional analytical tools. Indeed biosensor technology has the high potential to guarantee a comprehensive control among all the single steps of the food supply chain, from the crop cultivation and harvesting, to food process, transportation, packaging and distribution. Sensor technology is at the leading edge of the development in almost every sector. The market for sensors grew from EUR 81.6 billion in 2006 to EUR 119.4 billion in 2011 and can be expected to grow to EUR 184.1 billion until 2016, according to the newWorld Report entitled 'Sensors Markets 2016' published by Intechno Consulting, Basel (Switzerland). A huge amount of this market is represented by the biosensor revolution promoting sustainable foods in the near future. In this context, this book will discuss about the last trends on biosensor technologies, including (1) advanced technologies for fast, sensitive and costeffective determination of different targets to ensure food quality, safety, authenticity and traceability as well as (2) emerging technologies for crop xvii monitoring, accurate analysis of soil nutrients and pesticides or for maximizing the efficiency of water use for a smart agriculture. Thus the emerging innovations in biosensor technology devoted to food quality and safety control will be discussed in the first section 'Biosensors for food safety, quality and security'. The concepts of food quality and safety are crucial issues to get a sustainable and healthy food. Appearance, taste, smell, nutritional value content, functional ingredients, freshness, flavour and texture are all crucial parameters to be considered to this regards, together with its comprehensive estimation of freshness and the evaluation of the correct composition of the natural components (eg, sugars, amino acids and alcohols) and additives (eg, vitamins and minerals). On the other hand, safe foods should respect the legal limits regarding pesticides, heavy metals, pathogens and toxins, to avoid serious damages of human health and well-being, and consequent burdens on health-care system and economic productivity. In this overall scenario, the last trends on biosensors will be described considering the main advantages and limitations of this technology, to minimize threats that cause unsafe or offquality food. With the aim to optimize biosensing performances for a smart food chain monitoring, the last trends on synthetic biology and biomimetic chemistry will be addressed in the second section 'New generations of synthetic receptors and functional materials for food biosensors', to foster the development of tailormade bioreceptors with desired features in terms of stability and sensitivity. These extraordinary disciplines have been largely exploited in the last years to obtain ad-hoc bioreceptors with desired features of robustness, sensitivity and useful detection range. For this reason, the last tendencies on artificial molecules (ie, aptamers) and functional materials (ie, biomimetic surfaces) will be discussed to redesign the configuration of the sensing elements or by producing novel synthetic entities mimicking key properties of natural molecules. The third section 'New technologies improving biosensor efficacy' deals with the nanotechnology approach, the biocompatible integration of electronics and the (bio)microfluidics to design ad-hoc sensing systems, meeting the requirements for effective monitoring of the food supply chain. The use of emerging nanomaterial will be debated to either develop novel smart analytical methods or improve the existing ones. In addition, the recent progresses in microelectronics and microfluidics will be highlighted to foster the development of accurate, low-cost and ready-to-use biosensors. The fourth section 'Biosensor trade in agrifood sector' provides significant and up-to-date information about the commercially available biosensors in the agrifood sector. Considering the international concern with food quality and safety, biosensor development occupies an enormous space in the market, also due to the growing interest of companies in realizing analytical systems with an effective commercial success. However, despite the huge literature on xviii Preface biosensors applied in food analysis, only few systems are able to reach the market. This section aims to highlight the main limitations that should be faced, in terms of biological components, mass production, handling convenience, specificity and timesaving. The fifth section 'New revolutionary frontiers in biosensor technology' debates on the emerging technologies, including laser scanning approaches, robotic-based analytical tools, intelligent food packaging and ICT tools, developed with the aim of supplying the entire food supply chain, managing excess and waste of food and boosting up precision farming. By profiling the advances accomplished in recent years in synthetic biology, new material design (biohybrids), nanotechnology, micro/ nanofluidics, ICT and so on, the main ambition of this book is to strengthen the relationship between high-tech researchers, industrial professionals, and national governments to promote a uniform synergistic research programme to develop innovative, tailor-made biosensors for a sustainable agrifood management. The precious contribution of scientists, working on multidisciplinary researches on biosensing technology, will shed light on the emerging, vanguard and forthcoming knowledge to overcome the main limitations hindering the transition of biosensors from the bench to the market, promote a sustainable agriculture and lay the foundations for a bio-based economy.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
