Researchers at the University of Central Florida are developing new technology to make sure people are getting the food they think they’re eating. The work is funded by a recent grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to create an easy-to-use and highly sensitive device to detect food fraud, such as the substitution of pork in beef products. The researchers will update existing detection technology, known as a colorimetric lateral flow assay, which uses gold nanoparticles to detect meat proteins. They will create a new metallic coating, made of platinum, palladium or iridium, that will go around the gold nanoparticles to increase their sensitivity.
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