Identifying deadly food poisoning bacteria within seconds could soon become a reality thanks to work being done at the University of Queensland Researchers from the University of Queensland have created a…

Identifying deadly food poisoning bacteria within seconds could soon become a reality thanks to work being done at the University of Queensland

Researchers from the University of Queensland have created a cheap dipstick that can quickly test for bacteria that cause food poisoning thus reducing the need for expensive laboratory tests.

The new technology costs as little as 15 cents a dipstick and makes use of cellulose-based paper – the same material used in paper towels.

The dipstick works by separating DNA and RNA molecules from any living organism and then testing the extracted molecules for viruses, bacteria, cancer or any other form of disease.

Professor Jimmy Botella, researcher from School of Agriculture and Food Sciences said, “We have successfully used the dipsticks in remote plantations in Papua New Guinea to diagnose sick trees and have applied it to livestock, human samples, pathogens in food, and in detecting environmental risks such as E. coli-contaminated water.”

Already the researchers have used the dipsticks to test farm animals for viruses, to check bacteria levels on food products, and to test for E. Coli and other contaminants in drinking water.

Dr Michael Mason, one of the researchers involved on the project said, “The current system the chicken industry uses is to take the raw chicken – the same sort of chicken you’d buy at Coles or Woolies – and put it in a bag with liquid and shake the bag. They take that liquid and put it on an agar plate and wait a couple of days.”

“Then, they can count the number of bacteria so that they know then how many bacteria is on that particular bird. The problem is that result takes several days.”