Recent advances in microfluidic devices for foodborne pathogens detection

Rapid and accurate detection of foodborne pathogens is a powerful and effective strategy to prevent the outbreak of foodborne diseases. Conventional detection methods like the plate counting and molecular diagnosis strategies are still not suitable for timely and rapid on-site detection due to the cumbersome operations, requirement of trained operators and sophisticated instruments. Microfluidics provide a powerful tool for pathogen detection due to the intrinsic advantages including easy integration, miniaturization, portability, and small sample consumption. Up to now, many research works have reported the combination of microfluidics with various detection techniques and signal amplification technologies to achieve the rapid and sensitive detection of foodborne pathogens. In this review, we mainly summarized the significant developed microfluidic based devices for pathogenic bacteria detection over the past five years, including (1) integration of sample preparation techniques like cell capture and enrichment, and nucleic acid related sample preparation methods on chip; (2) various detection methods, such as colorimetric, fluorescence, chemiluminescence, and mass spectrometry; (3) microfluidic paper-based analytical devices, particularly for the applications in resource-limited settings, remote areas or on-site detection. The limitations and advantages of these methods were summarized and discussed in order to comprehensively understand the latest microfluidic-based detection techniques for foodborne pathogens. Finally, the future challenges and directions for pathogens detection based on microfluidic based biosensors were also discussed and summarized.