Detection of microorganisms with lateral flow test strips

Abstract The intake of foodborne pathogens causes serious health problems such as diarrhoea and vomiting. The spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which often occurs via food, has becomes a global problem. Rapid detection of bacteria in food is crucial to prevent such fortuities. Lateral flow immunochromatographic assay (LFIA) has become popular as a method that can detect a target on-site using a strip. This chapter provides an overview of the recent research trends in LFIA, i.e., improvement of sensitivity, multimerization, adjustment of specificity, automation of multi-step reaction, quantification, and construction of strip with one type of antibody. The research studies are also classified according to the target bacteria and were surveyed from an applications perspective. Finally, the future use of LFIA in epidemiology and microbiome analysis and as a monitoring tool in the food factory is also discussed.