Biosensors can detect harmful bacteria during food processing in a matter of hours, much faster than conventional methods that take days to detect pathogens.

Research specialist Zhenyu Zhang examines a capillary column used as an electrochemical sensor to detect harmful bacteria in food products. Such sensors promise to speed up detection of harmful bacteria in food processing industries.

Yanbin Li, biological engineer for the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, leads an interdisciplinary research team that is developing fast, reliable methods for detecting illness-causing bacteria during poultry processing.

"The food industry would like to detect a host of pathogens in a matter of minutes to keep up with the pace of food processing, and we're working toward this," Li said. "Our ultimate goal is to develop working models that can detect the smallest possible presence of several types of pathogens as rapidly as possible. We'd also like to have it in a portable unit."

First, researchers must separate the target bacteria from the food sample, Li said. Then the sensor must produce a signal that can be converted to readable data that measure the presence of pathogens.

Li works with scientists in poultry science, food science, biochemistry and electrical engineering to explore new technologies that can make sensors small, accurate or fast.

The prototype sensors he's developed can detect several pathogens, but he's had the best results with E. coli 0157:H7, one of the most prevalent illness-causing bacteria found in foods.

The next step will be to automate detection.

"We want to be able to simply drop the sample in a unit and wait for the results," he said.

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