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bioswitch developed through nanotechnology.'” even after a product leaves the supermarket. * Developing small sensors to detect food-borne pathogens will Privacy advocates are concerned that marketers will have even not just extend the reach of industrial agriculture and large-scale greater access to data on consumer behaviour. They want the tags food processing. In the view of the US military, it's a national to be disabled at the cash register (what is known as "tag killing") security priority.'* With present technologies, testing for to ensure that personal data won't be obtained and stored. Wal- microbial food contamination takes two to seven days and the Mart in the US and Tesco in the UK have already tested RFid tag- sensors that have been developed to date are too big to be ging on some products in some stores.'* transported easily.'” Several groups of researchers in the US are developing - Nanobarcodes biosensors that can detect pathogens quickly and easily, reasoning A "nanobarcode" is an alternative tagging or monitoring device that "super-sensors" would play a crucial role in the event of a that works more like the UPC code, but on the nano-scale. One terrorist attack on the food supply. With US Department of type of nanobarcode—developed by Nanoplex Technologies—is Agriculture (USDA) and National Science Foundation (NSF) a nanoparticle consisting of metallic stripes, where variations in funding, researchers at Purdue University are the striping provide the method of encoding working to produce a hand-held sensor information.'” capable of detecting specific bacteria Nanoplex changes the length and width of instantaneously from any sample. They've the particles and the number, width and com- created a start-up company called position of each stripe to make billions and BioVitesse.'” billions of variations. So far they've put bar- While devices capable of detecting food- codes into ink, fabric, clothing, paper, explo- orne pathogens could be useful in sives and on jewellery. The codes can be read monitoring the food supply, sensors and A "nanobarcode" using a hand-held optical reader or a micro- smart packaging will not address the root . . scope that measures the difference in reflec- problems inherent in industrial food Is an alternative tivity of the metallic stripes. Silver and gold roduction that result in contaminated foods: reflect light in different ways, for example, P g y! P. faster meat (dis)assembly lines, increased . . . and it is the patterns of reflection that give mechanisation, a shrinking labour force of monitoring device each particle its unique code. In addition to pwwage workers, Fewer inspectors, the that works more like gold and silver, Nanoprex makes codes ack of corporate and government out of platinum, palladium, nickel an a barcode, but on the nano-scale. accountability and the great distances cobalt. tween food producers, processors and Nanoplex also produces "Senser" consumers. (Silicon Enhanced Nanoparticles for Just as it has become the consumer's Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering) responsibility to make sure meat has tags—50-nanometre metal nanoparticles een cooked long enough to ensure that that exhibit unique codes similar to pathogens have been killed, consumers nanobarcodes. Senser tags can also be will soon be expected to act as their own incorporated into packaging and read by meat inspectors so that industry can an automated reader up to a metre away, continue to trim safety overhead costs allowing items to be read at a checkout and increase profits. like RFID tags or covertly at ports.'” The tagging of food packages will Tagging and Monitoring: mean that food can be monitored from farm to fork—during = Radio Frequency ID (RFid) Tags processing, while in transit, in restaurants or on supermarket An RFid tag is a small, wireless, integrated circuit (IC) chip shelves and, eventually, even after the consumer buys it. Coupled with a radio circuit and an identification code embedded in it. with nanosensors, those same packages can be monitored for The advantages of the RFid tag over other scannable tags—such —_ pathogens, temperature changes, leakages, etcetera. ne the TIDC bk an mact even after a product leaves the supermarket. Privacy advocates are concerned that marketers will have even greater access to data on consumer behaviour. They want the tags to be disabled at the cash register (what is known as "tag killing") to ensure that personal data won't be obtained and stored. Wal- Mart in the US and Tesco in the UK have already tested RFid tag- ging on some products in some stores.'* tagging or monitoring device | [ea a tatoos | eae Tagging and Monitoring: = Radio Frequency ID (RFid) Tags An RFid tag is a small, wireless, integrated circuit (IC) chip with a radio circuit and an identification code embedded in it. The advantages of the RFid tag over other scannable tags—such as the UPC barcodes pasted on most consumer products today— are that the RFid tag is small enough to be embedded in the prod- uct itself, not just on its package, it can hold much more informa- tion, can be scanned at a distance (and through materials, such as boxes or other packaging) and many tags can be scanned at the same time. RFid tags are already being used for livestock tracking, attached to the ear or injected into the animal. The entire chip can be about the size of a dust mote—closer to micro-scale than nano- scale, though incorporating nano-scale components. Developers of the technology envision a world where they can "identify any object anywhere automatically".'” RFid tags could be used on food packaging to perform relatively straightforward tasks, such as allowing cashiers in supermarkets to tally all of a customer's purchases at once or alerting consumers if products have reached their expiration dates. RFid tags are controversial because they can transmit information Nano-food: What's Cooking? In 1999, Kraft Foods, the $34 billion Altria (formerly known as Philip-Morris) subsidiary, established the industry's first nan- otechnology food laboratory. The next year, Kraft launched the NanoteK consortium, enveloping 15 universities and public research labs from around the globe.'* None of the scientists involved in the consortium is a food scientist by training; rather, they're a mix of molecular chemists, material scientists, engineers and physicists.'** Looking at food from an engineering perspective is nothing new. For the last three decades, scientists have introduced genes from one species of plant or animal into another using genetic modification (GM) technologies; but at least for a thousand years before that, people introduced specially formulated additives to food to impart new flavours, textures, colours or other qualities. Nano-scale technologies will take food engineering "down" to a NEXUS + 21 A "nanobarcode" is an alternative that works more like a barcode, but on the nano-scale. AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 2005 www.nexusmagazine.com