Electronic noses designed to prevent food poisoning
Technology
The human nose and its ability to smell is an amazing thing
(Web Desk) - Each nose has around 400 scent receptors that are said to be able to detect around one trillion different odours.
To replicate such a level of sensory expertise in scientific equipment is a daunting challenge.
Yet thanks to recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI), the latest electronic noses - high-tech sensors that can detect and report specific smells - are quickly improving their levels of speed and accuracy.
Their proponents say that they can transform food safety.
Common types of potentially deadly foodborne bacteria are salmonella and E. Coli. Both of these have their own "electronic personality", says Prof Raz Jelinek, the co-developer of an e-nose called Sensifi, and a professor of chemistry at Ben Gurion University of the Negev, in Israel. "They have their own electrical signal."
The e-noses made by the Israeli company of the same name contain electrodes that are coated with nanoparticles of carbon.
They detect the smells or volatile organic compounds (VOC) given off by bacteria.
Different strains of bacteria produce a different VOC fingerprint, which in turn creates a different electric signal in the Sensifi machine.
This is then recorded by an AI software system, which checks it against its ever-growing database, and notifies the user.
Sensifi, which launched earlier this year, hopes that it can transform the fight against infection in the food industry.
Its chief executive Modi Peled says that in most cases food producers currently have to send samples off to a laboratory for testing, and then wait a number of days for the results to come back.
By contrast, Sensifi's e-noses can be used on site by the food firms themselves, and are said to give their results in less than one hour.
It hasn't released a price for its machines, but says they will be "low cost". The firm instead intends to make most of its money from subscription fees.
"Testing methods in the food industry have remained the same for 40 to 50 years," says Mr Peled. "Until now AI hadn't really entered the testing segment of this market."
Food poisoning remains a serious problem around the world. In the US, 48 million people, or one in six, get sick every year from a foodborne illness.
Of these, 128,000 are hospitalised, and 3,000 people die.
In the UK, it is calculated that there are 2.4 million cases of food poisoning every year, and an estimated 180 deaths.
"People would say that meat, poultry and fish are the main culprits," says Mr Peled.
"But if you look at the biggest killer in the US food industry in the last five to 10 years, it is the romaine lettuce.
