title: Point-of-Care Detection Devices for Food Safety Monitoring: Proactive Disease Prevention.
abstract: Food safety has become an increasingly significant public concern in both developed and under-developed nations around the world; it increases morbidity, mortality, human suffering, and economic burden. This Opinion focuses on (i) examining the influence of pathogens and chemicals (e.g., food additives and pesticide residue) on food-borne illnesses, (ii) summarizing food hazards that are present in Asia, and (iii) summarizing the array of current point-of-care (POC) detection devices that have potential applications in food safety monitoring. In addition, we provide insight into global healthcare issues in both developing and under-developed nations with a focus on bridging the gap between food safety issues in the public sector (associated with relevant clinical cases) and the use of POC detection devices for food safety monitoring.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei 100, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Marie Yung-Chen
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung 407, Taiwan; School of Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung 402, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Min-Yen
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei 112, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Shih-Jen
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei 112, Taiwan.
authors.forename: De-Kuang
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.affiliation: Poison Center, Department of Nephrology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and Chang Gung University, Linkou 333, Taiwan; Kidney Research Center, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou 333, Taiwan; Center for Tissue Engineering, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou 333, Taiwan. Electronic address: m19570@adm.cgmh.org.tw.
authors.forename: Tzung-Hai
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Yen
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomedical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 300, Taiwan. Electronic address: chaomin@mx.nthu.edu.tw.
authors.forename: Chao-Min
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Cheng
mesh_terms: D059022:Food Safety; D005517:Foodborne Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems; D011634:Public Health
keywords: food safety; point-of-care diagnostics; public health; rapid diagnosis; smartphone