Researchers had been looking for ways to quickly and easily detect bacterial growth in food and discovered that tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS) does just that. The TDLAS allows for accurate, fast and noninvasive ways to measure the levels of bacteria in blood supplies, food and other products that are “living matter.”
There are detection techniques that are capable of providing rapid, accurate measurements of gas composition, but uncovering a technique that is based on optical spectrometry brings with it advantages. Those advantages include:
- It is non invasive
- It is highly sensitive to the bacteria
- Immediate feedback is given
Researchers say that the main advantage of the TDLAS is that is can detect bacteria at very low levels – in the parts per billion range. The TDLAS is one of the most commonly used laser-based absorption techniques on the market for assessing bacterial species within a gash phase. Because of this, the device can accurately pinpoint concentrations of specific gasses including:
- Carbon dioxide
- Carbon monoxide
- Water
- Methane
With the TDLAS, bacteria can be detected within a closed package – such as food products that are in bottles or bags.
The way the experiment was run included the researchers setting up a tunable diode laser as a light source, using beam-shaping optics and a sample. The sample received optics and the emission wavelength was tuned to specific absorption transitions. When the gases are being measured, the device is determining the gas concentration – which points to a growth of bacteria in food.
Because the growth of micro-organisms encompass many factors it is not always easy to accurately determine the amount of bacteria within a food container. Gaining a better understanding of the growth process of the micro-organisms will lead to a reduction in food waste and could prevent food-borne illnesses.
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