Abstract: Food safety has increasingly become a global concern for human health. Whole cell biosensors are a type of sensing devices that use cells as signal collectors to produce identifiable signals. They offer the advantages of miniaturization, automation, the fast response of microbial cells, easy availability, low cost, and direct conversion of stimuli into readable signals. In recent years, with the progress of synthetic biology and materials science, whole cell biosensors have been widely studied and applied in the field of food safety testing. This paper summarizes the working principles of whole cell biosensors and reviews their characteristics across five aspects: heavy metals, pesticide residues, veterinary drug residues, food additives, and foodborne pathogens and toxins detection, based on their application scenarios in food safety testing. In addition, the challenges and future trends in the development of whole cell biosensors in food safety testing are discussed.

Key words: food safety; whole cell biosensors; food contaminants; detection