MOF-based gas sensors for food quality and safety monitoring: recent advances, applications, and challenges

Rapid and non-destructive monitoring of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released from food samples can support the early warning of food quality deterioration, spoilage, and safety-related risks. However, reliable gas sensing under complex food-headspace conditions, often characterized by high humidity and multiple interfering gases, remains challenging. Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) offer promising opportunities through their tunable pore structures and framework–analyte interactions, which facilitate analyte enrichment and molecular recognition. This review comprehensively summarizes the integration of MOFs with four major signal-transduction platforms, including electrochemical, optical, mass-sensitive, and chemiresistive sensors. We further discuss how MOF-based integration can enhance the detection of food-relevant volatile markers in representative applications, including meat and fruit quality monitoring, safety-related early warning, and early detection of grain mold contamination. Finally, current challenges and future directions are highlighted, particularly with respect to food-contact safety, stability, reproducible fabrication, validation under real food-headspace conditions, and integration into disposable intelligent packaging systems. Overall, the practical application of MOF-based gas sensors requires further validation under realistic food-headspace conditions and standardized evaluation beyond laboratory-scale sensing performance.