Smartphone-based food diagnostics

Smartphone-based food diagnostic technologies can be used for many applications including food safety analysis and environmental monitoring. Smartphone diagnostics are more portable, economical, faster, and easier to use than conventional lab-based approaches. Smartphone diagnostic technologies require an application on a phone via which information is relayed to the user, and a sensor. The main sensor types are optical and electrochemical biosensors. An optical sensor (e.g. water contamination detector) uses visual cues such as colorimetric or luminescent detection for quantification and can use the phone camera. Electrochemical sensors (e.g. glucose detectors) allow sample quantification with higher sensitivity and reproducibility than optical sensors, however they require an external electrode for measurement. Other sensors include sound recording, magnetoresistance, and near-field communication interference. Sample preparation, and optimisation and/or calibration are limitations for mobile diagnostics. For example, sampling performed by non-expert user can result in contamination, resulting in incorrect measurements. Effective optimisations, calibrations and easy to follow protocols instructions are important for overcoming this.