Abstract: Outbreaks of foodborne diseases caused by pathogenic bacteria have become a global health concern. Relying on plate culture and biochemical analysis, traditional microbiological assays are time-consuming and labor-intensive and thus cannot meet the growing demand of food safety testing. Therefore, an efficient detection method is urgently needed. With high sensitivity and short time, nucleic acid amplification-based methods have been developed to detect various foodborne pathogenic microorganisms. With the characteristics of small size, high specific surface area and flexible design, the microfluidic chip is a portable, reagent-saving and high-throughput method. In order to further apply the nucleic acid detection method in situ and in resource-constrained environments, researchers have combined it with microfluidic chips, which provides a convenient and efficient tool for food safety detection. In this paper, we summarize recent progress in the development of polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-microfluidic, loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP)-microfluidic, recombinant polymerase amplification (RPA)-microfluidic, nucleic acid sequence-based amplification (NASBA)-microfluidic and helicase dependent amplification (HDA)-microfluidic chips methods for the detection of foodborne pathogens. In conclusion, the combination of nucleic acid amplification technology and microfluidic chips provides a new, simple and efficient method for the detection of foodborne pathogenic microorganisms.

Key words: foodborne pathogens; nucleic acid; microfluidic chip; rapid detection