Tag Archives: Star Trek

Market microbial food safety: New Australian app to electronically trace meat from paddock to checkout

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Developers of a new smartphone application say the app will make it possible to electronically trace livestock from the paddock through the saleyards, abattoirs and eventually the checkout.

star.trek.tricorderThe new software, developed by Aglive and supported by Meat and Livestock Australia, digitally records information throughout the animal’s life, such as on-farm chemicals used and vaccinations.

It is aimed at bolstering Australia’s reputation for food safety.

Aglive director Paul Ryan said most of the information was currently recorded on paper, but using a smartphone or tablet in conjunction with a hand-held scanner would revolutionise the process.

“The problem [right now] is, there is a digital information gap on farms,” Mr Ryan said.

“The quality assurance systems on farms at the moment that are required to allow farmers’ product to enter into domestic and export markets are paper-based.

cattle.data.smartphone“There is no integrated digital solution to capture and validate the data on farms and allow that data to be shared across the supply chain.”

The next step is to make that information available to consumers. Like the best restaurants, the best producers have nothing to hide and will reveal internal testing results.

Tricorder for food safety?

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While the original Star Trek television series was heavy on cheese, I enjoyed the more complex morality tales of Star Trek: The Next Generation (as complex as early 1990s TV could get).

And who doesn’t love them some Patrick Stewart.

patrick.stewartIn the fictional Star Trek universe, a tricorder is a multifunction hand-held device used for sensor scanning, data analysis, and recording data.

A UK based company has unveiled PERES, a handheld device and mobile app which provides information about the freshness and quality of meat, poultry, and fish and protects against food poisoning.

According to the promoters, this portable e-nose and its iOS/Android mobile app enables users to determine the quality, freshness of meat, poultry, and fish and whether it has gone bad and could potentially cause food poisoning.

Users point the PERES at meat and click a button. It works by analysing a sample of the gases for volatile organic compounds and ammonia. Within a few seconds, users receive information on their smartphone or tablet about the food’s freshness, whether it’s been left unrefrigerated and whether there may be a risk of food poisoning.

William Shatner’s Broadway opening marred by food poisoning

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Captain Kirk told the ladies of The View on Monday that his one-man Broadway show, Move out of your parent’s basement and get a life Shatner’s World: We Just Live in It, was spoiled by food poisoning.

The armchair epidemiologist figured it was a Klingon hamburger.

The veteran’s one-man show was met with a standing ovation and rave reviews but his night of celebrations were cut short after he fell ill.

Shatner previously appeared on U.S. breakfast show Good Morning America Friday to recount his magical evening, saying, “Opening night on Broadway… Well I’d love to say I absorbed every second of it but I got food poisoning. So the lack of absorption was really good.”

Schaffner speaks: why didn’t more people get sick from listeria in cantaloupes

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Don Schaffner, a food scientist with Rutgers University (right, not exactly as shown, in his early years) told NPR that, "Probably a lot of people ate this cantaloupe. And a lot of people probably ate lots of (bacterial cells of) listeria. … The bacteria come in and in many cases, they’ll die in the stomach.”

But when acid in the stomach is altered, studies find that people seem to be more susceptible. For instance, taking medicines to reduce acid reflux appears to increase the risk of stomach bugs.

"We do know that people who eat a lot of antacids or who are taking proton pump inhibitors are at higher risk of food poisoning.”

Schaffner also said when you buy cantaloupes and other fresh food, don’t wait too long to eat it.

"One of the interesting things about listeria is that even in the refrigerator, the organism will grow and multiply."

William Shatner speaks out on salmon

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Montreal-native William Shatner – Captain Kirk, Boston Legal dude, Priceline negotiator and spoken-word enthusiast — has written Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper asking that salmon farms be removed from wild-salmon migration routes in the Broughton and Discovery islands area of British Columbia.

Shatner, who filmed an episode of the Boston Legal series in the Broughton Archipelago off northern Vancouver Island, says in his letter that salmon farms are having a disastrous impact on "one of Earth’s most precious assets, the wild salmon and steelhead of B.C."

Mary Ellen Walling, executive director, B.C. Salmon Farmers Association, responded that while Shatner’s acting credentials are solid (really?) — his understanding of fisheries research is less stellar.

Activist groups should, at least, be able to meet the same standards of scrutiny applied to industry. And for journalists who often see themselves as the guardians of the public interest, it seems prudent to be wary of being manipulated, even by those who appear to walk on the side of the public good rather than the side of corporate self-interest. Beam me up, Scotty.

That didn’t go over too well with the locals. Several letter writers pointed out that T.J. Hooker was entitled to his views, didn’t represent industry, and there were lots of ways to do research. Aquaculture folks – facts are important, but are never enough.