Portable Trace Detector for Food Toxins(1001-450)

A major threat to U.S. personnel stationed abroad are high levels of toxins that may be present in the local food supply as a result of unregulated pesticide use and the prevalence of toxic industrial chemicals and heavy metals in the environment. Rapid analytical methods are needed that are capable of identifying these threats in food at levels that exceed military exposure guidelines. Triton Systems is addressing the needs of the U.S. Army Center for Environmental Health Research with the development of a rapid food sample preparation and measurement process for the detection of cyano and phosphate-containing compounds, representative of pesticide and cyanide food toxins, as well as heavy metal contaminants. The proposed food sample preparation process uses only standard, relatively inexpensive equipment that is field-portable. This process takes about thirty minutes and the sensor response time upon exposure to the prepared sample is nearly instantaneous. The food sample preparation and sensor measurement system will be demonstrated on ground beef, milk, and bread loaded with known levels of threat compounds. All of the sensor components are environmentally robust, shelf-stable, and economically manufacturable.