FOODsniffer – low-cost and highly portable lab-on-a-chip biosensor

FOODsniffer presented its patented, low-cost and highly portable lab-on-a-chip biosensor, which detects chemicals, infections, toxins, proteins and genetic mutations in plant and animal samples. The FOODsniffer biosensor is field-deployable and simple to use, comprising an all-silicon, fully integrated optoelectronic platform implementing interferometry for highly sensitive label-free multi-analyte detection. The light sources and sensing elements within immobilized antibodies are all on a single chip and used in single-shot cartridges. The device is controlled by a smartphone that sends the geo-tagged analysis results to the Internet cloud during the on-the-spot analysis. FOODsniffer is a complete business solution for field-based detection of harmful species at very low concentrations and, accordingly, has the potential to revolutionize numerous aspects of agriculture.
http://www.nfia.com/fft/201302/Articles/small-bites-8.html

An important use would be for an allergy sufferer who wanted to test for the occurrence of a dangerous level of a particular allergen in their food. This would especially be useful if they were travelling or eating in an unusual or high-risk location.
If you were a vegetarian or someone who only wanted to consume organic foods, you could use such a device to test for the presence of certain common meat proteins or residues of pesticides (which are forbidden in organic agriculture).
Anyone who was concerned about the variety of the grapes in their fine wines, or the variety of their produce or meat might use such a device to determine the variety. This is determined by DNA analysis.
If you were concerned about GMO, the device could be configured to detect many different types of transgenes in a food sample.
http://www.foodsniffer.eu/?page_id=271

Poisons in Our Local Environment with Dr Bernhoft

Uploaded on Sep 1, 2011
Dr Robin Bernhoft, MD (Environmental Medicine) discusses the potential impacts on human life & on other animal species of unregulated usage of toxic & poisonous chemicals used in herbicides & pesticides, specifically of a chemical called glyphosate, the active ingredient in an herbicide called Aquamaster by Monsanto, a highly toxic chemical being used by the thousands of gallons in attempts to eradicate invasive plant species in the Ventura River Watershed, and that drains directly into the local drinking water supplies. Thus far all such efforts have failed to eradicate the invasive plants. Sponsored by Pesticide-Free Ojai Valley (www.pesticidefreeojaivalley.org). More info about the Bernhoft Institute at http://www.drbernhoft.com