Missouri researcher develops advanced juice-testing technique

Somebody call Jack LaLanne. Researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia have coupled DNA sequencing with mid-infrared spectroscopy to develop a rapid test for Alicyclobacillus, a common bacteria found in many different juices, including our favorite, apple. Alicyclobacillus is not dangerous for humans, but it can cause spoilage and hurt flavor and many countries — especially Japan — have “zero tolerance” for imports containing it. A number of different testing methods are currently used, but many suffer from unacceptable false positive rates and can take as many as seven days to complete — far too long in this high energy worldwide economy. The Missouri technique, by contrast, takes only hours to deliver a result and can be easily incorporated into the production procces. “This combination will be the best way to quickly and accurately detect and identify the bacteria,” said Dr. Mengshi Lin, who worked with researchers from Washington State University and Hashemite University in Jordan, to develop the technique. “If processors find the bacteria, they can go back quickly and find the affected products.”