Research Progress of Smartphone-Microfluidic Optical Sensing System in Food Safety Detection

Food safety testing technology is a critical link in safeguarding food safety. With the increasing complexity of modern food supply chains and food compositions, there is a growing urgency to detect harmful contaminants in food. Traditional detection techniques relying on laboratory-scale instruments face limitations such as cumbersome sample pretreatment, prolonged detection cycles, and poor portability, making them inadequate for on-site real-time monitoring needs. Smartphone-microfluidic optical sensing systems integrate the precise fluidic manipulation capabilities of microfluidic chips, the high-sensitivity characteristics of optical sensing, and the portable computing/imaging functions of smartphones, offering a novel approach for miniaturized, high-throughput, and point-of-care food safety detection. This technology has been successfully applied to rapid detection of harmful contaminants including pesticide and veterinary drug residues, pathogenic bacteria, and mycotoxins in food. However, challenges remain regarding signal stability under interference from complex food matrices, multiplex detection capabilities, and the cost of standardized mass production. Future efforts should focus on optimizing system integration, enhancing specificity and sensitivity, and advancing low-cost manufacturing processes to facilitate large-scale deployment in food safety regulation. This paper introduced the platform architecture and design principles of smartphone-microfluidic optical sensing systems, reviewed recent research advances and applications in food safety testing, and provided a critical analysis of existing challenges and future development prospects.