Foodborne disease caused by foodborne pathogens is a very important issue in food safety. Therefore, the rapid screening and sensitive detection of foodborne pathogens is of great significance for ensuring food safety. At present, many research works have reported the application of biosensors and signal amplification technologies to achieve the rapid and sensitive detection of pathogenic bacteria. Thus, this review summarized the use of biosensors coupled with signal amplification technology for the detection of pathogenic bacteria, including (1) the development, concept, and principle of biosensors; (2) types of biosensors, such as electrochemical biosensors, optical biosensors, microfluidic biosensors, and so on; and (3) different kinds of signal amplification technologies applied in biosensors, such as enzyme catalysis, nucleic acid chain reaction, biotin-streptavidin, click chemistry, cascade reaction, nanomaterials, and so on. In addition, the challenges and future trends for pathogenic bacteria based on biosensor and signal amplification technology were also discussed and summarized.
Keywords: biosensor; food safety; foodborne pathogens; signal amplification.