Applications of Microfluidics in the Agro-Food Sector: A Review

Abstract

Background: Microfluidics is of considerable importance in food and agricultural industries. Microfluidics processes low volumes of fluids in channels with extremely small dimensions of tens of micrometers. It enables the miniaturization of analytical devices and reductions in cost and turnaround times. This allows automation, high-throughput analysis, and processing in food and agricultural applications. Purpose: This review aims to provide information on the applications of microfluidics in the agro-food sector to overcome limitations posed by conventional technologies. Results: Microfluidics contributes to medical diagnosis, biological analysis, drug discovery, chemical synthesis, biotechnology, gene sequencing, and ecology. Recently, the applications of microfluidics in food and agricultural industries have increased. A few examples of these applications include food safety analysis, food processing, and animal production. This study examines the fundamentals of microfluidics including fabrication, control, applications, and future trends of microfluidics in the agro-food sector. Conclusions: Future research efforts should focus on developing a small portable platform with modules for fluid handling, sample preparation, and signal detection electronics.

Microfluidics in environmental analysis: advancements, challenges, and future prospects for rapid and efficient monitoring

“…33–35 Despite assessing microfluidic devices in food-based sensing, 23,36 limited reviews regarding microfluidic devices for agricultural monitoring exist. 37,38…”

“…[33][34][35] Despite assessing microfluidic devices in food-based sensing, 23,36 limited reviews regarding microfluidic devices for agricultural monitoring exist. 37,38 This review provides an up-to-date overview of the advancements in microfluidic devices for environmental monitoring over the past five years. It spans a variety of environmental domains, including air, water, soil matrices, and agriculture applications for monitoring the most prevalent analytes such as heavy metals, nutrients, pesticides, microorganisms (bacteria, viruses, etc.…”

Microfluidic Approaches in Water Quality Monitoring: An Insight and a Comprehensive Review

“…Microfluidics has contributed to advancements in diverse fields, including clinical and veterinary diagnostics, point-ofcare diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, life science research, analytical devices, industrial quality control, environmental water quality testing, agro-food testing, drug delivery, and microreaction flow chemistry [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30]. Lab-on-chip and organ-on-chip are the most common microfluidic devices used in medical and health applications.…”

Multiple Particle Manipulation under Dielectrophoresis Effect: Modeling and Experiments

“…The effective and precise manipulation of fluids and reagents to perform a wide variety of reactions, analyses, or rudimentary investigations holds great importance in the diverse fields of biotechnology, environment monitoring, food processing, analytical chemistry, agriculture, and medical sciences and is vital for both academic research and industrial settings. Microfluidic lab-on-a-chip (LOC) devices serve as effective tools in manipulating cells and biological agents with great accuracy.…”