In the middle of one of the biggest beef recalls in Canadian history, many consumers are becoming more concerned with food safety. Now, a new technology may help in the battle against food contamination.
Bactiscan is a portable device that uses four specialized lights to scan food processing equipment and surfaces, to detect for bacteria that may have been missed during the cleaning process.
“With this device you can see the areas where there is conglomerates or patches of unclean areas,” explained Bob Holland, Managing Partner at Easytesters Inc, the company that designed Bactiscan.
Plant owners can lease a Bactiscan for $15,000 per year, or rent one at a lower price. Holland says it is currently being used in one plant in Canada and three in the United States.
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“They love it, because they’re fanatical about having a clean processing facility and this helps them find material that they had no idea existed,” Holland said adding, “It’s a tool that they found invaluable, they pick it up right away and use it regularly.”
Holland says it is also being used in some plants in South America and Europe however, there has been some reluctance from others in the industry.
“Like any new technology, there’s disbelief. If you can’t see it, you don’t believe it,” he said, “Adding a device like this, to go out and actually find unclean areas in their plant, there’s some reluctance out there for food processors to do that.”
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University of Alberta Food Microbiologist Michael Ganzle says he isn’t surprised the technology hasn’t caught on right away.
“If you look at introducing a new technology to food processing, you think of years to more than 10 years, not a month,” he said.
Holland hopes the technology will begin to catch on, as he believes it will have an enormous impact on reducing the risk to consumers.
“This, we see as a game changer in the food safety industry, in the sense that never before could you see with the naked eye, and white light, this material.”
Scientists at the University of Alberta are currently testing Bactiscan to determine exactly what the device can identify.
With files from Fletcher Kent.
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