Microfluidics enhanced biosensor technology for advancing food safety monitoring

Ensuring food safety is crucial for both the national economy and the well-being of individuals, as it forms the foundation of social and economic development. The process of ensuring food safety must cover all stages of production, including planting or breeding, processing, packaging, storage, transportation, sales, and consumption. Compliance with national mandatory standards is imperative, and there should be no potential harm to human health. However, effective monitoring and management of food safety necessitate testing technology that is sensitive, precise, efficient, and practical. In the field of biosensing, microfluidic technology has garnered substantial interest due to its capacity for miniaturization, integration, lab-on-a-chip analysis, and multiplex detection. In this review, we thoroughly examine various forms of food pollution and contamination, such as foodborne pathogens, heavy metal ions, viruses, veterinary drugs, illegal additives, and biotoxins. Additionally, we provide a comprehensive review of the most recent technologies based on microfluidics-enhanced biosensors for food safety monitoring, including optical transduction, electrical strategies, and magnetic methods. Finally, we present the critical challenges and future perspectives of developing microfluidics-based biosensing technology for food safety monitoring. We believe that this review will help bridge the gap between food safety and microfluidics-enhanced biosensor technology, providing implications for scientists and engineers in both fields to collaborate and promote the development of new devices and technologies for food safety management. © 2024 Elsevier Ltd.