Chapter 3: Microfluidic “Lab-on-a-Chip” Sensing in Food Safety and Quality Analysis

Lab-on-a-chip (LoC) is an emerging technology that aims at miniaturizing chemical and biological processes and conducting various operation procedures, including sample sorting, bioanalysis and flow manipulation. LoC devices offer many advantages, such as low sample consumption, reduced cost, high detection resolution and sensitivity and high measurement throughput, making them favourable for analyzing various compositions within agri-food products. In this chapter, food analysis approaches based upon LoC technology are introduced. The major materials, structures and main operation principles of LoC will be presented, followed by some representative applications of LoC devices in determining various food compositions to ensure food safety and quality.