Detection of pesticides in apples in 5 minutes is now a reality.
Swedish scientists have created a nanosensor to detect pesticides in fruits in a couple of minutes. This was reported by IA Krasnaya Vesna with reference to the information portal of scientific news Phys.org.
The new innovative equipment is a compact and relatively inexpensive sensor for detecting pesticides in fruits in just a few minutes. The authorship of the development and patent rights belong to researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden.
“Our research and comprehensive reports show that up to half of all fruits sold in the EU contain pesticide residues that affect human health in large quantities.”
Georgios Sotiriou is the author of the study and Chief Scientist at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor Biology and Cell Biology at the Karolinska Institute
Note that the new nanosensors use a 1970s discovery known as surface-enhanced Raman scattering, or SERS, a powerful detection technique that can increase the diagnostic signals of biomolecules on metal surfaces by more than a million times.
“The innovative sensors we have developed are able to detect pesticide residues on the surface of apples in the short time of five minutes without destroying the fruit.”
Haipeng Li is a co-author of the study from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden.
