Built on the principle of specific biological-recognition measurements coupled with a signal transducer, surface-plasmon-resonance (SPR)-biosensor technology has developed over the past several decades, resulting in commercial production of versatile tools for many applications that greatly impact disciplines from the life sciences to the medical, pharmaceutical, biotechnology and agri-food industries. We review the recent development of SPR optical biosensors towards multiplexing and the coupling of this technology with other emerging '-omics' for high-throughput, food-safety and quality analysis. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.