A research and development lab at the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries (Sydney, Australia) recently purchased a WASP Touch Spiral Plater and ProtoCOL3 colony counter. The lab is carrying out research on food safety of fresh horticultural produce and nuts. The head of the research program, Dr S P Singh, spoke to Don Whitley Scientific to explain how these two new products, provided by DWS, are key to his team’s working processes.
Dr Singh and his colleagues are exploring fresh options when it comes to food safety: “We are developing new ways of sanitising the produce by killing potential foodborne bacterial pathogens”. The produce his lab are sanitising is often used for export, meaning this is a vital process to ensure safety for the consumer. Dr Singh explains that “we have to deal with hundreds of samples everyday” meaning “plating and enumeration is a core lab activity”.
The lab’s project was recently featured on NBN News http://www.nbnnews.com.au/2017/11/10/world-first-food-sanitiser-at-ourimbah/. The project is a world’s first and to sanitise food without the use of chemicals could be a revolutionary step forward in food safety.
