Foodborne illnesses remain a major public health concern worldwide, yet many contamination events could be prevented with faster and more effective detection tools. One particularly challenging pathogen is Bacillus cereus, a bacterium that commonly contaminates food in the form of highly resistant spores. These spores can survive food processing treatments such as pasteurization and later germinate, leading to food spoilage or disease.
Most existing detection methods focus on B. cereus vegetative cells, not spores, and often require time-consuming culturing steps or spore germination before analysis. As a result, there is currently no rapid, routine method to directly screen foods for B. cereus spores, despite their central role in contamination and outbreaks.
This research introduces an electrochemical aptasensor designed specifically for the rapid detection of B. cereus spores. The key innovation lies in the combination of multiple DNA aptamers, each recognizing different features on the spore surface. When immobilized together on gold electrodes, these aptamers act synergistically, significantly improving binding efficiency and detection sensitivity.
The sensor achieves:
The approach was successfully validated in spiked salad samples, demonstrating reliable detection of spores directly in food rinse water and strong agreement with conventional culturing methods.
By targeting spores directly—without germination or complex processing—this technology addresses a critical gap in food safety diagnostics. Its speed, simplicity, and sensitivity make it well suited for on-site screening along the food production chain, from raw ingredients to finished products.
Beyond Bacillus cereus, the strategy of combining
multiple aptamers could be extended to other foodborne pathogens, paving the
way for faster, more preventive food safety monitoring.
Improving electrochemical aptasensor sensitivity for Bacillus cereus spore detection in food safety applications
Authors: Milica Sentic, Francesco Rizzotto, Zorica Novakovic, Aleksandar Karajic, Brahim Heddi, Jasmina Vidic
Full publication here
