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Consumers may soon be able to go for longer between milk-buying trips. That's because Brazilian company Agrindus hopes to start marketing plastic milk bottles that use embedded silver nanoparticles to kill bacteria. Grade A pasteurized fresh whole milk packaged in those bottles can reportedly last for up to 15 days, as opposed to the usual seven.
The technology was developed by partner company Nanox, and involves first coating silica ceramic particles with silver nanoparticles. This reportedly has a synergistic effect, with the silica boosting the antimicrobial properties of the silver.
Those coated particles take the form of a powder that is subsequently mixed into liquid polyethylene. Using blow- or injection-molding, that plastic is then made into bottles which Agrindus plans to sell to dairy goods companies. The particles can also be used to make milk bags, which should extend shelf life from four to 10 days.
(Score: 4, Informative) by mendax on Thursday August 06 2015, @08:29AM
I learned about 13 years ago after I burned the hell out of my leg on a hot motorcycle pipe that silver is used as a topical antibiotic, used especially with serious burns. As I recall it was silver sulfate, or something that sounded like that. However, it didn't exactly work all that well, nor did the potent antibiotic I was taking for it. Eventually, after a round of IV antibiotics after I got home, the infection cleared up.
But I think I know a better way to increase the shelf life of milk. When I was in grad school and doing some programming for a nuclear physicist, he was doing experiments with using gamma rays to preserve food. It's simple. Package the food, then irradiate it with the gamma rays to kill the bugs that are in the package. It's a good idea, safe (once you're out of the bottling plant), and shouldn't change the flavor of the milk any more than pasteurization does. Of course, once the bottle is opened, all bets are off.
It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 06 2015, @09:20AM
Well, in Germany we have milk that remains good for 14 days without applying either silver or radiation.
(Score: 1) by Francis on Thursday August 06 2015, @01:37PM
Milk is milk, it's probably not really good for 14 days every time. You can't put a date on there and assume that it's going to be automatically good for that long. If you take care of it, as in keep it refrigerated, then it will usually last a couple weeks. Generally, it's about a week beyond the sell buy date, or whatever date the store uses. Regardless of when the milk says it's good till, there's a ton of sugar and if you're not storing it properly or it becomes contaminated, then all bets are off as to how long it will last.
The silver is probably more to do with situations where the milk has been allowed to warm a bit or you really need it to stay good for longer.
Personally, I don't think the risk of nano-particles that can puncture bacteria being ingested is worth it. I buy enough milk that it never lasts more than 2 weeks anyways, so I'm not sure why this would be worth the risk.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 06 2015, @09:51AM
Some glass types (especially the optical types) already contain weak sources of radioactivity. So just go back to glass bottles. Presto, no ZOMG RADIATION WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE needed.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Thursday August 06 2015, @11:26AM
Hmm, Nuka Milk?
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 1) by Francis on Thursday August 06 2015, @02:08PM
Wouldn't work, you need fizz, perhaps as some sort of soft drink...
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday August 06 2015, @02:17PM
Silvadene Cream.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/meds/a682598.html [nih.gov]
http://www.drugs.com/pro/silvadene.html [drugs.com]
I've had my rounds with it. The stuff is great. I swear, when you really need it, the feeling resulting from slathering it on your arm (or wherever) is better than any sex you might dream about. The pain just stopped. Gone.
Of course, the pain relief doesn't last. The sweet relief lasts - ohhh - ten to twenty minutes. By then, the doc should have given you something powerful to keep the pain at bay.
As an antibiotic, I guess it's alright. I didn't get infected when I used it. The side benefit that many might miss, is the moisturizing effect. You don't dry out while there is a layer of silvadene on the burned area.
Your experience and my own sound so different, I wonder if you got some knockoff branded stuff that skimped on the active ingredients - primarily silver.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday August 06 2015, @02:20PM
And, oh yeah - there IS an expiration date on the stuff. I almost forgot about that. I had a huge tub of the stuff left over, which sat in the refrigerator for several years. When my sons were burnt, I pulled that out - and it was near useless by that time. It wouldn't spread properly, and the boys got little if any pain relief from it. So - maybe you got some old, outdated silvadene?