Advances and challenges in molecular detection of foodborne pathogens

Foodborne pathogens remain a major global public health pandemic, contributing majorly to morbidity, mortality, and economic burden across the food supply chain. Contamination occurs at multiple stages from production to consumption, from microorganisms including bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites. Rapid and accurate detection of these pathogens is therefore critical to ensure food safety and prevent outbreaks. Traditional detection methods such as culture-based, biochemical, and immunological assays, although dependable, are often time-consuming, labor-intensive, and limited in sensitivity and specificity. These limitations have led to the development of advanced molecular detection techniques.

This review aims to evaluate current molecular approaches for the detection of foodborne pathogens, with a focus on nucleic acid-based methods, hybridization techniques, biosensors, and emerging technologies. Techniques such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and its variants, loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), DNA microarrays, and spectroscopy-based methods have enhanced detection speed, accuracy, and multiplexing capability. Also, biosensor-based platforms and nanotechnology technologies offer promising solutions for rapid, on-site detection. But several challenges including the presence of inhibitory substances, distinguishing viable from non-viable cells, high operational costs, and lack of standardization techniques are present.

Also, issues related to reproducibility, sensitivity under field conditions, and regulatory validation continue to restrict widespread implementation. Molecular detection technology represents transformative methods in food safety diagnostics. Future integration with emerging tools such as CRISPR-based systems, artificial intelligence, and multi-omics possess major potential for improving detection accuracy.