A company in Israel, TA Count has developed a new test that can detect harmful bacteria in food and beverages in just minutes, compared to standard cell culture and plating which takes days.
The company was started by a group that worked on water purification systems. Frustrated at how long conventional testing took, they decided to come up with a solution themselves. According to the CEO of the company interviewed by the Nocamels webpage, a site dedicated to Israeli innovation, the test can be likened to a pregnancy test. In under 5 minutes it will answer the question “Can I drink this water?”.
The test is currently only used on water samples but the company intend the test to also be used with food and beverages.