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posted by martyb on Monday September 25 2017, @08:17AM   Printer-friendly
from the a-nose-for-innovation dept.

Submitted via IRC for Fnord666:

A recent deadly outbreak of Salmonella has so far sickened more than 200 people throughout the eastern and southern United States. The culprit? Madrol papayas coming from three different distribution companies, all originating from four close farms in Mexico.

[...] Mitigating risk of food-borne illnesses can be a costly and time-consuming business for food manufacturers -- but one that is necessary. ...

This machine works by picking up on possible pathogens, running it through the system and then coming out with results, which founder and CEO Pierre Salameh says have so far yielded results with a 94 percent accuracy in the lab.

[...] "We provide an affordable method, but I don't want to save money for factories. I want to double and triple output within the same budget of what they are doing," Salameh tells TechCrunch.

Source: https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/19/olfaguard-is-an-electronic-nose-for-smelling-pathogens-in-food-factories/


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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by BsAtHome on Monday September 25 2017, @09:15AM (2 children)

    by BsAtHome (889) on Monday September 25 2017, @09:15AM (#572597)

    In some future, we may actually be able to build a Tricorder. Small steps like this make way for the mighty device.

    Unfortunately, I may not be there anymore when the time comes, you know, old age and such. But I'm still excited when small steps in development are a step in the right direction. Let us hope it is used for all our good.

    • (Score: 2, Insightful) by anubi on Monday September 25 2017, @09:46AM (1 child)

      by anubi (2828) on Monday September 25 2017, @09:46AM (#572603) Journal

      I believe this will also be useful in "smelling" diseases, as the lungs have a very thin blood-air surface, and things in the blood will diffuse to the exhaled air.

      --
      "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
      • (Score: 3, Interesting) by anubi on Monday September 25 2017, @09:50AM

        by anubi (2828) on Monday September 25 2017, @09:50AM (#572606) Journal

        Oh yes, how about a "refrigerator quarrantine" in case something really noxious ( like salmonella ) is detected in the fridge.

        Might be a good warning not to mess with that leftover chicken or egg salad.

        --
        "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
  • (Score: 3, Funny) by c0lo on Monday September 25 2017, @09:45AM (5 children)

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Monday September 25 2017, @09:45AM (#572602) Journal

    yielded results with a 94 percent accuracy in the lab.

    I see your 94% in the lab** and raise you to 99.9% [xkcd.com].

    ---
    ** see how it goes in real life, smelling the armpits of overworked peons sorting your veggies.

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 25 2017, @11:51AM (4 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 25 2017, @11:51AM (#572616)

      Even at 99.9% catch rate, enough will come through undetected to make more than 200 people ill (or kill them).

      The culprit? Madrol papayas coming from three different distribution companies, all originating from four close farms in Mexico.

      One should ask why papayas (plant) contain high amounts of salmonella (animal pathogen). The problem is nobody knows where their "ingredients" are coming from,
      how they are produced and processed. Not only customers should know this, every part within the chain should include control checks.

      • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday September 25 2017, @12:54PM (1 child)

        by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Monday September 25 2017, @12:54PM (#572637) Journal

        The problem is nobody knows where their "ingredients" are coming from, how they are produced and processed. Not only customers should know this, every part within the chain should include control checks.

        Heh, you like to live dangerous, with the "regulation run amok, unnecessary red tape, burgeoning bureaucracy, starve the anti-business beast" pack's teeth stuck into your butt, dontcha?
        A good thing this Anonymous Coward-ness.

        (grin)

        --
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 25 2017, @08:48PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 25 2017, @08:48PM (#572790)

          My point was not for pro- or contra-regulations. Just that companies should have a look at the place where they buy their ingredients from, just that you actually know what you're buying and selling to your customer.

      • (Score: 4, Informative) by c0lo on Monday September 25 2017, @01:31PM (1 child)

        by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Monday September 25 2017, @01:31PM (#572650) Journal

        One should ask why papayas (plant) contain high amounts of salmonella (animal pathogen).

        Usually, fertiliser under the form of manure is the most common way - mainly poultry, ducks and geese [idt-animal-health.com] are more frequently infected than chicken - never eat duck eggs that aren't hard boiled for 15mins, their eggs can carry Salmonella infection inside.

        Shipping and handling:
        - infected humans (may be asymptomatic)
        - cross contamination in storage/during transport - see the 2012 North European outbreak [wikipedia.org]

        --
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 25 2017, @08:52PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 25 2017, @08:52PM (#572791)

          Yeah, I know (the question was just a rhetorical one). Still, Papayas grow in trees, makes me wonder why they spray manure so high (probably from a plane), it's only taken up by the roots.

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