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Monday, 17th March 2008 (6412 views)

A new method of identifying food-borne pathogenic bacteria uses gold nanorods, it has emerged.

Scientists at the University of Georgia and the Korea Food Research Institute have developed a way of identifying the pathogens salmonella, listeria and toxoplasma, responsible for millions of cases of food-borne illness each year, reports Nanowerk.

Bosoon Park, an agricultural engineer at the US department of agriculture, told the publication that early detection is crucial to preventing disease outbreaks caused by such pathogens.

"Current detection techniques such as ISO method 6579, fluorescent-antibody, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, or polymerase chain reaction are time-consuming, cumbersome and have limited sensitivity," he added.

The new method involves the fabrication of a hetero-structured silicon/gold nanorod array by the glancing angle deposition thin film method, which is then functionalised with organic dye molecules and anti-salmonella molecules.

An enhanced fluorescence when salmonella is captured and detected is produced due to the high aspect ration nature of the nanorods.

NetDoctor.co.uk notes that salmonella tends to be found in poultry, unprocessed milk, eggs, meat and water.

 

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