Recent progress in typical foodborne spore-forming bacteria detection

Spore-forming bacteria are common foodborne pathogens known for their heat resistance and ability to form spores, making them difficult to eliminate. Their persistence poses risks to food safety and shelf life. Traditional detection methods are often time-consuming, labor-intensive, and have insufficient sensitivity. Therefore, the development of rapid, accurate, and practical detection strategies is essential for food industry applications. This review summarizes recent advances in the rapid detection of four representative spore-forming bacteria: Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus cereus, Clostridium perfringens, and Clostridium botulinum. Five detection strategies were evaluated: gene amplification-based, protein-based, physicochemical property-based, multiple, and AI-enhanced detection systems. The commonalities between the various rapid tests are also analyzed, including specific molecular recognition, signal amplification, visualization of results, matrix effects, and sample pretreatment. These detection methods have broad application potential in food safety monitoring and may help guide the development of next-generation detection platforms for spore-forming bacteria.