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 toxic compounds, representative of a broad range of possible 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 takes a few minutes. The food sample preparation and sensor measurement system has been demonstrated using ground beef, milk, and bread food matrices; and arsenic, cyanide, and methamidophos as representative toxic compounds. All of the sensor components are environmentally robust, shelf-stable, and economically manufacturable.
Keywords: Food Toxicity, Pesticides, Cyanide, Arsenic, Sensor, Tics, Toxic Chemical, Industrial
