Food Quality & Safety
  • Home
  • About
    Us
    • Food Quality & Safety‘s Mission
    • Contact Us
    • Authors
    • Manage Subscription
    • Advertise
    • Magazine Archive
    • Copyright
    • Privacy Policy
  • On the
    Farm
  • Safety & Sanitation
    • Environmental Monitoring
    • Hygiene
    • Pest Control
    • Clean In Place
    • Allergens
    • Sanitizing
    • Training
  • Quality
    • Authenticity
    • Textures & Flavors
    • Labeling
    • Shelf Life
    • Outsourcing
    • Auditing/Validation
    • Supplier Programs
  • Testing
    • Seafood
    • Dairy
    • Hormones/Antibiotics
    • Produce
    • Ingredients
    • Beverages
    • Meat & Poultry
    • Animal Food
  • In the
    Lab
    • Lab Software
    • Pathogen Control
    • Physical Properties
    • Contaminants
    • Measurement
    • Sampling
  • Manufacturing & Distribution
    • Information Technology
    • Plant Design
    • Foreign Object Control
    • Temperature/Humidity
    • Packaging
    • Transportation
    • Tracking & Traceability
  • Food Service & Retail
    • Cleaning & Sanitizing
    • Stock Management
    • Hygiene
    • Food Preparation
    • Allergens
    • Education
    • Temperature Monitoring
  • Regulatory
    • FSMA
    • Guidelines & Regulations
    • Recalls
  • Resources
    • Whitepaper
    • Webinars
    • Video
    • Events
    • Food Library
    • Jobs
  • FQ&S
    Award
  • Search

‘Smart’ Detection

October 22, 2014 • By Marian Zboraj

  • Tweet
Print-Friendly Version

You Might Also Like
  • Detecting Adulteration in Olive Oil
  • USDA Efforts in Improving Meat and Poultry
  • From The Editor: Family Farming
Explore This Issue
October/November 2014
Also By This Author
  • Eliminating Trans Fats
ad goes here:advert-1
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE
Marian Zboraj

Are detection methods getting “smarter?” It certainly sounds that way.

For example, University of Alberta professors Anastasia Elias and Dominic Sauvageau and their research team in Canada are developing “smart labels” to detect harmful microbes that cause foodborne illnesses before products reach consumers.

ad goes here:advert-2
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE

While labels have already been developed to detect temperature change, temperature is only an indirect indicator of food spoilage. The material used to make the smart labels will be able to directly indicate the presence of bacteria, such as E. coli, Salmonella, or Listeria, by changing color.

Supported by the Alberta Meat and Livestock Agency, the project involves developing and combining three technologies: the stimuli-responsive polymer from which the smart material is made, the biological detection system, and food microbiology.

“With the smart materials, food suppliers and even consumers will instantly be able to see if a product has been contaminated just by looking at the color of the packaging,” Sauvageau explains. The smart materials could also help pinpoint where and when the problem occurred, so action can be taken immediately to fix the problem. The research team is now two years into this three-year project, but still has work to do before commercial production.

ad goes here:advert-3
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE

In addition, there are smart utensils under development in China. This past summer, hundreds of eateries in Taiwan were found selling dishes made with cheaper cooking oil from sewers and garbage disposals. Naturally, this has the public clamoring for an easy solution to ensure that the oil used to prepare their food isn’t adulterated with gutter oil. Chinese search engine company Baidu, the nation’s equivalent to Google, says it has an answer: “smart chopsticks.”

Baidu recently unveiled its prototype, named Kuaisou, which can allegedly identify the quality of cooking oil. The chopsticks are fitted with sensors that connect to a smartphone app to give users analyzed readings. When chopsticks are dipped into edible oil, an “excellent” reading is given. When dipped into recycled cooking oil, a “bad” reading appears—indicating the used oil is not safe.

As our food supply gets more complicated, the detection of contamination and adulteration cannot depend on traditional safety strategies, so smart detection methods like the above are promising and are hopefully precursors to more innovative processes.

“Technology is always evolving,” adds Elias. “So there is room for constant improvement and alternative applications.”


Marian Zboraj
Editor

Filed Under: From The Editor, Testing Tagged With: Adulteration, Food, Food Quality, food quality and safety, Food Safety, Pathogen Detection, Quality, Safety, zborajIssue: October/November 2014

You Might Also Like:
  • Detecting Adulteration in Olive Oil
  • USDA Efforts in Improving Meat and Poultry
  • From The Editor: Family Farming
  • Testing Olive Oil Authenticity

About Marian Zboraj

Marian Zboraj is the Professional Editor of Food Quality & Safety. She has worked on the publication since late 2012, working from the John Wiley & Sons corporate headquarters in Hoboken, N.J. Marian has extensive editorial experience, holding editorial positions in the B2B publishing industry since 2001 and working on a variety of topics such as nutracueticals, eyecare, and industrial manufacturing. She resides in northern New Jersey. Reach her at mzboraj@wiley.com.

View more by this author»

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Current Issue

October/November 2019

  • Issue Articles »
  • Current Issue PDF »
  • Subscribe »
  • Follow Us:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn

Food Quality & Safety Blog  

Managing Change as a Food Safety Professional

… [Read More]

Previous posts »

Paid Partner Content

Avoiding Overwhelming Product Recall Costs

Innovative food safety inspection systems are being developed in Germany. Learn more about the latest technologies from Bizerba and benefit from our free guidelines ensuring consistent food production safety.

  • Recall News
  • Industry News
    • Cay Thi Queentrees Food USA Recalls Poultry Products
    • Padrino Foods, LLC Recalls Beef Tamales
    • Simmons Prepared Foods, Inc. Recalls Poultry Products
    • Rastelli Bros., Inc. Recalls Meat Products
    View more »
    • Researchers Uncover Science Behind Using UV Light to Disarm Pathogens
    • In Memoriam: Daniel Y. C. Fung, PhD
    • E. coli Illness Linked to Romaine Lettuce Expands
    • Salmonella Outbreak and Ground Beef Recall Stir Transparency Debate
    • FDA Extends Deadline for Supply-Chain Approval
    View more »

Polls

How interested is your company in cannabis testing for its food/beverage products?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...
  • Polls Archive

Whitepapers

  • Food Authenticity Testing with Agilent 6546 LC/Q-TOF and MassHunter Classifier

View More Whitepapers »

On-Demand Webinars

  • Reduce Non-Recyclable Materials
  • Why a Food Safety Culture Is Critical to Your Business

View More Webinars »

Food Quality & Safety (formerly Food Quality) is the established authority in delivering strategic and tactical approaches necessary for quality assurance, safety, and security in the food and beverage industry.

Advertise / Targeted list rental/3rd Party emails / Subscribe / Contact Us / Privacy Policy / Terms of Use

ASBPE Award Winner

Copyright © 2000–2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., a Wiley Company. All rights reserved. ISSN 2399-1399

Wiley

This site uses cookies: Find out more.