Chemical apparatus and process disinfecting – deodorizing – preser – Analyzer – structured indicator – or manipulative laboratory... – Calorimeter
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-07
2001-08-07
Alexander, Lyle A. (Department: 1743)
Chemical apparatus and process disinfecting, deodorizing, preser
Analyzer, structured indicator, or manipulative laboratory...
Calorimeter
C436S001000, C426S087000, C426S232000, C116S106000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06270724
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to detection of the presence of conditions indicative of microbial contamination in food, including toxic contaminants, bacterial metabolites, and other microbial secretions.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Over the past several years there has been increasing concern over the safety of our food supply. Contamination of food can come from a variety of sources and the type of contamination possible is often dependent on the food involved.
Most animal-derived food products, such as raw meat, are exposed to the possibility of contamination before, during, or after processing. Such contamination comes from, for example, contact with fecal matter at the slaughter house, from handlers of the food products at any stage of the processing of the food products, and from toxins, both naturally occurring and man-made, present in the environment where the food was grown or processed. In most cases, contamination is minor and, if the food is prepared properly, is not a serious threat to the consumer. However, while the contamination of food is generally low, i.e., few bacteria per gram of the food, if the food is not stored under satisfactory conditions or stored for long periods of time, contaminants, such as bacteria, grow to become a serious threat to the eventual consumer of the products. Even if the food products reach the market in an acceptable condition, subsequent treatment by the consumer may lead to the development of serious contamination of the food.
A common form of unsatisfactory storage condition involves inadequate temperature management throughout the cold chain. The cold chain is the course of distributing perishable foods from the supplier to the retailer to the consumer. In other words, the cold chain involves the refrigerated transport of food from the processor to the wholesaler, and all of the subsequent steps of storage, handling, and redistribution. Inadequate temperature management or temperature abuse of the food occurs when food is stored at temperatures above the optimal storage temperature and may occur at any point in the food distribution process.
Such time-temperature abuse of the food often results in considerable microbial growth and toxin production by microorganisms introduced through the diverse sources of contamination. Food-borne pathogens like bacteria flourish and increase to hazardous levels if the food is exposed to time-temperature abuse. The presence of bacteria in the food causes the production of off-odors and volatile gases, such as carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen gas, and organic acids and nitrites in the food. Furthermore, certain kinds of bacteria, such as lactic acid bacteria, cause a decrease in the pH of the food, thus, enhancing further bacterial growth. Other bacteria produce various toxins often implicated in food-borne illnesses. The presence of off-odors, volatile gases, lowered pH, and toxins in the food are thus indicative of bacterial contamination of the food. These contamination-indicating conditions are often referred to as bacterial metabolites as they are the products and by-products of bacterial metabolism.
A number of incidents and factors have lead to the growing concern over food supply. These include:
raw chicken and egg products have been found to be contaminated with Salmonella and inadequate cooking of such products has led to serious illness or death of persons who have consumed the contaminated products;
inadequately pasteurized milk products have been found to be contaminated with Listeria that has lead to serious illness or death of consumers of the products;
a highly toxic strain of
E. coli
has lead to the death of several people who consumed prepared beef products that had been inadequately cooked;
a number of toxins are known, such as ciguatoxins, which contaminate fish. These toxins are not inactivated or destroyed by cooking and so their presence in fish is a threat to any consumer of the product;
shell fish, such as oysters, concentrate any contaminants present in the water in which they grow and, since they are frequently eaten raw, pose a threat to the health of consumers; and
fish is increasingly eaten raw which adds to the possibility of increased outbreak of illness from water-borne contaminants.
The only means the consumer has of determining if the food they purchase is contaminated is by visual inspection and by smell. These methods are usually inadequate to detect contamination.
There is a need for a reliable way to detect if a food product purchased by a consumer is fit for consumption. Any solution to this problem should be relatively inexpensive and able to detect a number of agents capable of causing illness. It should also be simple to “read” so that a consumer, who does not have access to sophisticated testing equipment or specialized knowledge, can readily determine if the products they have purchased are free from contamination.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a detection system and most preferably to a food contamination detector associated with a double bar code, given the trademark GILBAR™ by the owner of the present invention, that includes coded indicia used to identify contaminated food. Of the two bar code symbols associated with the food contamination detector, the first identifies the food product in terms of the type of food, the quantity, the price and the like, while the second bar code symbol is designed to identify the presence of contaminants. When contamination is not detected, the first bar code symbol, the product bar code symbol, is scanner readable, whereas the second bar code symbol, the contamination code symbol, is not scanner readable. Once contamination is detected, bars in both bar code symbols can appear or disappear causing the first bar code symbol, the product bar code symbol, to become scanner unreadable and the second bar code symbol, the contamination bar code symbol, to become scanner readable.
The food contamination detector comprises an indicator linked to a means for detecting conditions indicative of contamination in food, including bacterial toxins and metabolites. Other contaminants may include microorganisms, such as viruses, toxins and other immunogenic materials or substances. The indicator used in each detector varies based upon the bacterial secretion, metabolite, or toxin being detected in the food. Typically, the means for detecting the contamination condition is either in communication with the juices from the food, or detects contaminants in the gases or vapors emanating from the food. Alternatively, ordinary flexible packaging film, such as commercial polyethylene produced under the registered mark SARANEX®, may be transformed into a composite material containing multiple sites per unit of surface area which can detect and identify multiple toxic microbial materials in a food package using the TOXIN GUARD™ system developed by Toxin Alert Incorporated and Skye Pharmatech Incorporated. The packaging film detector may be used in conjunction with the double bar code or GILBAR™ system.
A means for changing the appearance of the indicator when the bacterial metabolite, toxin, secretion, or other contamination condition, such as temperature abuse, is present in the vapors, gases or juices from the food, is provided to indicate that the food is contaminated. In one embodiment of the invention, the means for changing the appearance of the indicator comprises a labeled antibody that dissociates from the substrate in the presence of a bacterial metabolite, toxin, secretion, or other condition indicative of contamination. In another embodiment, the means for changing the appearance of the indicator comprises a labeled antibody that binds to the substrate in the presence of a bacterial metabolite, toxin, or other condition indicative of contamination. In another embodiment the change in appearance of the of the indicator results in a change in a bar code symbol or other coded indicia, words, or symbols. The change in the bar code symbol may either cause the bar code i
Alexander Lyle A.
California South Pacific Investors
Lyon & Lyon LLP
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