Carbon quantum dots: Progress toward food safety and sustainability

Carbon quantum dots (CQDs) have recently been attracting attention in various fields due to their excellent properties, such as biocompatibility, water solubility, low toxicity, fluorescence, and photocatalysis. In particular, CQDs have functional properties such as antibacterial, antioxidant, and UV protection properties and are expected to be used for food packaging and food preservation purposes. Additionally, advanced analytical pathways have become possible with the advent of CQDs, a cost-effective, rapid, and sensitive tool for food safety assessment for the quantification of numerous contaminants, including heavy metals, pesticides, and pathogens. This review provides an overview and perspective on advances in the use of CQDs for food safety and preservation. A detailed summary of the synthesis strategies, raw materials, functional properties, and characterization of CQDs was discussed. This review also covers cytotoxicity studies of CQDs and highlights their importance. The use of CQDs for detecting food contaminants and determining nutritional composition, quality preservation of fresh foods, and functional properties such as antibacterial and antioxidant properties were also highlighted. Additional discussion on the effectiveness of CQDs applied as active fillers for developing packaging materials effective in extending the shelf life of packaged foods was detailed. CQD applications for intelligent and active packaging to ensure food safety were also discussed.