ABSTRACT
USE OF ENZYMATIC BIOSENSORS AS QUALITY INDICES: A SYNOPSIS OF PRESENT AND FUTURE TRENDS IN THE FOOD INDUSTRY

Liliana Serna Cock1*, Ana María Zetty Arenas1, and Alfredo Ayala Aponte2
 

Biosensors are an important alternative in the food industry to ensure the quality and safety of products and process controls with effective, fast and economical methods. Their technology is based on a specific biological recognition element in combination with a transducer for signal processing. The use of enzymatic biosensor technology in food processing, quality control and on-line processes is promising compared to conventional analytical techniques, as it offers great advantages due to size, cost, specificity, fast response, precision and sensitivity. This article reviews the development and use of some enzyme biosensors in the food industry, describes the most important application areas and analyzes the current situation and future possibilities. In conclusion, enzymatic biosensors are a tool with broad application in the development of quality systems, risk analysis and critical control points, and the extent of their use in the food industry is still largely limited by the short lifetime of biosensors, in response to which the use of thermophilic enzymes has been proposed.

Keywords: biosensors, enzymes, analysis in food, safety, quality, control processes.
1 Universidad Nacional de Colombia sede Palmira, Facultad de Ingeniería y Administración, Carrera 32 Chapinero, Vía Candelaria, Palmira, Colombia.
* Corresponding author (lsernac@palmira.unal.edu.co).
2 Universidad del Valle, Facultad de Ingeniería, Edificio 338, Espacio 2016, Ciudad Universitaria, Cali, Colombia.