With herbicides and pesticides increasingly being used in agriculture in efforts to produce crops faster to stay in the commercial market, the concerns for food safety is also rising among researchers and environmentalists.
But, here comes a new technology to soothe the worries. Scientists at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB), in cooperation with the CSIC have developed a new electro-chemical biosensor capable of detecting food with even very small amounts of atrazine (a widely used herbicide in agriculture). The disastrous effects of this herbicide are that its effects on the environment are very long lasting.
Atrazine also leaves antibiotics in food contaminated for long. Contrary to the existing laboratory methods, the new biosensor is cheaper and can detect food contaminant faster.
Its being portable and economic makes it more accessible, compared to the ones presently used.
The system can detect pesticides in drinking water and commercial orange juice effectively.
Now, food safety departments; take a breath of relief and grab this new technology to even effectively and inexpensively, detect traces of antibiotics in cow’s milk.
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