• Question: Is there any machine that can see salmonella on foods if so how does it work?

    Asked by bump44ace to Min, Marcello, Katie, Aoife on 13 Nov 2019.
    • Photo: Aoife McHugh

      Aoife McHugh answered on 13 Nov 2019:

      No there is no machine that I know of. To test foods for salmonella a small amount of the food is spread on a jelly like plate called agar with loads of nutrients in it. If there is Salmonella in the food it will grow on the agar and may change the colour of the agar. This may take 24-48 hours though. The salmonella multiply, until there is so many of them we can see them as little dots on the agar. We have lots of different types of agars with different nutrients in them. There is a special agar that has the exact nutrients salmonella need to grow, and no other bacteria should be able to grow on it. When we can see the tiny dots of salmonella on the agar plate we can look at these under a microscope to make sure it is salmonella

    • Photo: Marcello Valente

      Marcello Valente answered on 13 Nov 2019:

      The device I am developing can potentially detect Salmonella and other dangerous bacteria.

    • Photo: Min Yap

      Min Yap answered on 15 Nov 2019:

      Unfortunately no. It is hard to see bacteria because they are so small. The food has to be tested and plated onto jelly-like plates called agar to be seen. This may take 1-2 days to grow to a size that it can be seen.

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