Fast sensor set to ensure safety

The recent plethora of food safety scares have pinpointed the need for improved methods of detecting contamination. Reserchers from GeorgiaTech have developed a new biosensor which can not only identify which species of bacteria are present on food, but can also measure their concentration.

The sensor combines integrated optics, immunoassay techniques and surface chemistry to give a reading in less than two hours. It can detect 12 different pathogens, mostly found in red meat, at a sensitivity of 500 cells per millilitre sample. As well as being an order of magnitude more sensitive, and much faster, than current laboratory techniques, it is cheaper - $1000-1200, compared with $12,000-20,000 for a lab instrument.