Scanning Your Food With A Phone to Determine Presence of Pathogens: Something out of a sci-fi movie or real life?
Scientists at McMaster University in Canada have demonstrated “a proof-of-concept packaging hack” that would alert consumers to the presence of significant pathogens of public health concern (Salmonella, E. coli O157:H7, L. mono, etc.), offering increased safety for consumers and the doing away with “Best By” dates on packaging. Pathogen contamination would be determined by scanning a “DNA-infused patch” with your phone via an App prior to consumption to see if any triggers were activated indicating the presence of a pathogen on the food item.