A newly developed biosensor designed to detect harmful bacteria in minutes could streamline food safety testing across the supply chain, the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts announced last week.
The device uses harmless viruses known as bacteriophages to capture and identify salmonella enterica in small fluid samples, according to a paper by WPI researchers published in ACS Applied Bio Materials.
“We have a solid surface that can be used anywhere in the food supply chain, from farm to fridge, to detect foodborne bacteria with minimum human intervention,” WPI Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering Associate Professor Yuxiang “Shawn” Liu, who led the research team, said in the announcement.
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The technology could eventually support portable food safety devices and next-generation packaging systems capable of detecting contamination in real time, the institute said .
Why Faster Food Testing Matters
Salmonella enterica, one of the leading causes of foodborne illness, has been linked to contaminated eggs, meat, milk and produce, the research announcement said. Foodborne diseases cause millions of illnesses and an estimated 420,000 deaths globally each year, the study said.
Traditional food safety testing often requires laboratory equipment, trained personnel and incubation periods lasting 24 to 48 hours, the researchers said. Some existing genetic and antibody-based tests also struggle to distinguish live pathogens from dead ones, limiting their effectiveness in field applications.
The biosensor was designed to simplify and accelerate that process while reducing dependence on centralized testing infrastructure. “We have a solid surface that can be used anywhere in the food supply chain, from farm to fridge, to detect foodborne bacteria with minimum human intervention,” Liu said..
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How The Biosensor Works
WPI researchers built the device using a textured polymer surface coated with bacteriophages, which are naturally occurring viruses that selectively attach to bacteria, according to the research announcement.
Small fluid samples containing salmonella are pumped through a palm-sized microfluidic channel, where the phages trap and concentrate the bacteria for detection. Researchers then use fluorescence imaging to identify bright spots where bacteria have accumulated.
The system successfully detected dangerous concentrations of salmonella that are difficult to identify using many existing portable testing approaches, the research announcement said.
Unlike some conventional testing systems, the biosensor does not require bacteria to be grown in a lab before detection, according to the researchers.
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From Food Packaging To Smartphone Scanners
Liu said that the technology still requires additional development but could eventually expand beyond …
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