Author: Maria Temming / Source: Science News for Students
Sensors in packaging could someday warn you about tainted food in time to keep you from eating it. The plastic patches could detect bacteria that might poison diners.
Carlos Filipe is a chemical engineer at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada. He and his team developed the new sensors. To make them, the researchers coated a flexible film in molecules that glow in the presence of E. coli. These bacteria are usually harmless. But certain strains of this species can seriously sicken people. A leading source of exposure to those bacteria? Food.
This new sensor glows around molecules that E. coli cells produce. So the material doesn’t have to directly touch the germs to know if they’re there.
The sensors give off what’s known as fluorescence. They take in energy at one wavelength…
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