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posted by janrinok on Friday August 07 2015, @07:44PM   Printer-friendly
from the blue-lightsaber-to-the-rescue dept.

Blue LEDs, once confined to the world of digital displays and Blu-ray players, have just found a new calling: food preservation. New research at the National University of Singapore shows the potential of using blue LEDs as a chemical-free method to kill bacteria that lead to spoilage.

Earlier this year, public concern about artificial preservatives pushed fast-food restaurants like McDonald's, Subway, and Panera to seriously rethink the ways they keep their food fresh. Using blue LEDs could potentially kill the same bacteria that preservatives do without any of the scary, outrage-rousing chemicals.

The researchers looked at the effect of blue LED exposure on three of the major colonies of bugs that cause food to rot and stomachs to turn: Listeria, E. coli, and Salmonella. Their paper, published in the journal Food Microbiology, showed that the blue lights succeeded in inactivating the bacteria, with even better results in cold temperatures and acidic conditions. Foods like fresh-cut fruit, chilled meats, and ready-to-eat seafood, like sushi and lox, could all someday benefit from the pathogen-killing lights.

https://www.inverse.com/article/5154-blue-leds-are-the-future-of-food-preservation


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 08 2015, @03:20AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 08 2015, @03:20AM (#219778)

    Using blue LEDs could potentially kill the same bacteria that preservatives do without any of the scary, outrage-rousing chemicals.

    Does McDonald's use the dreaded dihydrogen monoxide in their food still?

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 10 2015, @03:02AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 10 2015, @03:02AM (#220526)

    Not only that, but in the more insidious solid form.