Nanotechnology and food safety
development miniaturized tools for detection of microorganisms help to obtain universal instruments and microbiological quality control
From a consumer perspective is increasingly important to have a total guarantee of safety and quality food. At the industry level, the supply of safe food is to identify, as soon as possible pollution problems. It is therefore necessary to develop techniques increasingly faster and more accurate, something that has helped the progress of biotechnology, which has facilitated the development of previous technologies such as optical traps, lasers, electronic scanning microscopes tunneling.
- Picture: Ariana Taylor-Stanley/Flickr -
All these tools allow biotechnologist greater knowledge and a better characterization and control of living cells. Currently, the nanomachines and bio-inspired materials are formed by self-assembly, molecular imprinting and other assembly techniques. The R & D in nanobiotechnology has a vast future ahead, particularly in areas such as medicine, of which 50% are hydrophobic and useful for the reduction of drug particle size to nanoscale could improve its administration.
On the other hand, nanomaterials with high porosity are suitable to achieve a more controlled application of drugs. In gene therapy, the success depends on developing safe and effective gene vectors. Non-viral vectors, nanoparticles, lipid complexes with DNA polymers have been proposed as alternatives to viruses, used to introduce specific genes in certain cells.
Advances in nanotechnology will soon be realized in improving the preparation of such nanoparticles to DNA. Finally, nanobiosensors have several immediate applications in generic research, among which we should emphasize monitoring nanoscale components inherent in living cells and biological threat detection.
coexist, however, several problems associated with the commercialization of nanotechnology. Often cited the superior performance of transistors made from carbon nanotubes. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to mass produce such transistors for computer chip manufacturing. Similarly, there are still many challenges to overcome in relation to the synthesis and processing of nanoparticles carrying drugs on a commercial level. Another critical issue is the integration of nanostructures and nanodevices into systems or broader platforms on a human scale, that surround them, so they can be used as components in electronic devices or sensors, among others.
Nanostructures are often unstable because of the small size of their constituents and their high chemical activity. Therefore, a major challenge is to increase the thermal stability and structural chemistry of these materials, and devices made therefrom. The biggest problem that could face nanotechnology in its quest to market, is the cost of production.
detection of microorganisms
List binding analysis of microorganisms is growing currently accepted standards for detection of microorganisms based on their crop from food to reach their isolation and identification on selective media. Is simple but time consuming. Traditional microbiological analysis are complemented by several rapid molecular biology technologies that are able to identify contaminating organisms, including detection by ELISA (Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay), which determines the presence of surface proteins or secreted by microorganisms, quantitative PCR reaction (Polymerase Chain), which allows amplification of DNA fragments or in combination with a reverse transcription reaction, the RNA of microorganisms.
Because many foods are processed from raw materials to a certain level of contamination at source, and even with pathogenic microorganisms, it is necessary to apply various technologies for reducing microorganisms, thereby reducing or even eliminating the danger . In these cases, the technologies could provide positive detections because if there antigen or genetic material may produce results that eliminate the presence of living microorganisms. For this reason, we have a premise true: always have to be able to detect living microorganisms because the dead will not affect us negatively.
The market offers various protocols and ready to use and reliably for the detection of living organisms. Including kits quantitative PCR detection, such as Salmonella foodproof Lightcycler, Listeria monocytogenes, E. coli O157 and Listeria-genus kits of Roche Company. The disadvantage of detection kits is that they require the introduction of a molecular biology laboratory and the analysis effort is directly proportional the number of organisms tested.
Indeed, the list of mandatory and desirable microorganisms to be analyzed is increasingly high, and it is foreseeable that in the future will be good to distinguish between different related strains, which may present a risk to the consumer completely different. Therefore, it is desirable to develop inexpensive systems capable of analyzing multiple (tens or even hundreds) of organisms or variants simultaneously, and can carry out in situ a simple and easy for production technicians.
development and production of miniaturized tools detection of microorganisms focused on specific foods and contaminating microorganisms characteristic can open the possibility of developing tools for safety and quality control of microbiological universal, thus encouraging standardization.
QUALITY COSTS NO
For this reason, the application of innovative technology and fast come from the hand of the largest producers, who manage to invest significant amounts of resources to innovation. And in most cases the food control is associated with a high cost, which includes a representative sampling and analysis protocols. Given this situation, it is often cheaper and analysis are selected without an appropriate management of test results. However, when we have a rejection of non-conformity product, the cost is much more important.
A refund means you have to bear the cost of production, transport costs and, depending on the contamination, the costs of destruction or disposal of the goods. In many cases, it is the self that leads to the existence of lots rejected, because if the food is perishable can not stay a week to obtain analytical results. The existence of adequate controls in time and cost mean lower costs and increased profits because, in many cases, the fact of not having a benefit denials that may pay checks.
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