Abstract: As global trade continues to accelerate, there are a wide variety of foodborne hazards, and foods have a short consumption cycle, higher requirements are raised for the timeliness, sensitivity and intelligence of food safety testing. Immunoassay techniques, which rely on the specific binding between antigens and antibodies, have been widely applied in the field of food safety testing due to their high sensitivity, strong specificity, and operational simplicity. However, traditional murine or rabbit antibodies suffer from several limitations, including poor stability, limited amenability to engineering, high production costs, and reliance on animals. As a new type of biometric material, nanobodies derived from shark and camelids exhibit great potential in rapid food safety detection owing to their high affinity, robust stability, and easy expression and modification. This review systematically summarizes the structural characteristics and preparation methods of nanobodies, with a focus on recent progress in their application for the rapid and intelligent detection of common foodborne hazards. Furthermore, the application prospects and challenges of nanobodies in various fields such as food safety and environmental monitoring are discussed with the aim of providing support for the development and industrial application of analytical techniques based on nanobodies.

Key words: foodborne contaminants; nanobodies; rapid detection; intelligence; progress