[转帖]Technology may make food safer

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., Oct. 6 (UPI) -- Inexpensive technologies may be able to help prevent future food-borne illness, such as the E. coli found in bagged spinach, suggest U.S. researchers.

One method uses a laser to detect and identify many types of bacteria, and is about three times faster and one-tenth as expensive as current technology, according to Richard Linton, a professor of food science at Purdue University.

A second innovation uses chlorine dioxide gas to kill pathogens on produce, fresh fruits and vegetables. This would be a large step up from current technologies, which mainly involve washing and scrubbing, and cannot completely rid a product of a pathogen like E. coli, according to Linton.

"We can use the laser technology to detect problems more quickly, determine exactly what the pathogen is and where it came from," Linton said. "As for using this gas as a disinfectant, I would say that in my 13 years of doing research, it is 10,000 to 100,000 times more effective than any process I have seen."

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