Nanodevices detect bacteria in food
It is estimated that over eleven million Canadians suffer from some kind of illnesses caused by bacteria intake through food. Most of the cases aren’t serious, but some definitely are — especially with pregnant women, for example. That’s why scientists were thoroughly working on designing a device based on nanotechnology standards which will be able to detect bacteria (such as salmonella) in food.
Although the technology has advanced, at this moment there is no quick test which would detect bacteria in food. “At the moment, the problem is you have to take a sample, put it on petri dish and put in stove for one day or sometimes three days (it depends on the pathogen you’re looking for), and then you count the colonies and know whether or not there are these nasty microbes,” said Frans Kampers, a biotech researcher.
There are many other areas where nanotechnology standards could be used — for example, it is possible to lower the number of calories in food, by replacing the inside of fat molecules with water, leaving the outside of the droplets and the taste and texture of the food unchanged.
Adopted from materials provided by cbc.ca
