Food contaminant tests cut from six days to five hours

Scottish scientists have received funding to mass-produce a food testing kit that detects the presence of a host of potentially fatal contaminants within hours, making it the fastest technology of its type in the world.

Based at The Macaulay Institute, Aberdeen, the project will roll out technology that will cut detection times for foodborne pathogens such as Campylobacter, Listeria and Salmonella from six days to just five hours.

“The conventional methods for detecting food contamination used by industries and regulatory agencies are labour intensive, time consuming and costly,” said the Macaulay Institute’s Dr Brajesh Singh.

“Our proposed technology offers for the first time, at low cost, the simultaneous detection of multiple contaminants within five to eight hours, and has the potential to revolutionise the food safety industry and save lives through prevention of food poisoning epidemics.”

While the technology will initially focus on contaminant detection in food and the environment, it has wider applications and could be attractive to healthcare, forensic and remediation industries.

Production is expected to commence by 2010.