Researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas have created a portable food safety device they hope will one day be used at every level of the food industry—from processing facilities to home kitchens.
Called READ FWDx, short for Rapid Electroanalytic Diagnostic Food Water Diagnosis, this proof-of-concept device is designed to detect unwanted food-borne bacteria such as E. coli, listeria and salmonella. It can also pick up on common herbicides, including paraquat dichloride and glyphosate and chemicals like antibiotics.
“We have so many gadgets that measure all our body parameters, like heart rate, blood pressure and blood sugar,” said Shalini Prasad, a professor of bioengineering and biomedical engineering at the University of Texas at Dallas, who cofounded EnLiSense to commercialize the device and other sensor technologies her lab has developed. “But what do we have in the context of our food?”…