Killer Paper Keeps Foods Safe

 

A specially coated Paper has been developed that could improve food safety. The “killer Paper” contains a coating of silver nanoparticles that kill food-spoiling bacteria such as E. coli and S. aureus in under three hours.

The Paper could be used as part of packaging that extends the shelf life of certain foods.

Aharon Gedanken and colleagues at Bar-Ilan University have been researching applications for silver nanoparticles and note in the American Chemical Society’s journal Langmuir that silver already finds wide use in certain medicines, kitchen and bathroom surfaces and odor-resistant socks.

The “killer Paper” could provide an alternative food preservation technique to radiation, heat treatment and low temperature storage, the authors argue.