Page 134 - AWSAR Compendium

110 || AWSAR Awarded Popular Science Stories - 2019
Lights! Sound! Action! - Germ killer light and sound make food safe
Mrs. M. L. Bhavya*
Email: bhavyaml03@gmail.com
Aconversation between two common foodborne pathogens, Escherichia coli (Gram-negative bacteria) and Staphylococcus aureus (Gram-positive bacteria), in a swimming pool of orange juice.
E. coli: “Hi, Golu, how are you?”
S. aureus: “Hey, Patlu, I am fine. It is fantastic dwelling on the skin and nose of humans, how about you?”
E. coli: “I am great but different from you. I relish in the intestine of people and animals. Golu, you know, I am a monster causing food poisoning and double my numbers in just 20 minutes. I love squeezing people’s tummy and make them run to the toilet frequently (diarrhea).”
S. aureus: “Oh, Patlu! You are so creepy. Even I can match with you in poisoning food by doubling in 30 minutes, but won’t trouble people directly. I rather have a weapon that, in turn, targets them, THE TOXIN. I am a silent killer. Shhhhhh....!”
E. coli: “Hey Hero, You know, even some of my family members can cause a life-threatening form of kidney failure called hemolytic uremic syndrome by producing Shiga toxin.”
S. aureus: “Oh, wait! Don’t rush. That is why people target you more than me. Finally, they want to destroy you.”
E. coli: “Don’t think that these people won’t target you; they know how terrible you are. They use some or the other method to depopulate us and our generations. They
* Mrs. M. L. Bhavya, Ph.D. Scholar from CSIR- Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysuru, is pursuing her research on “Light Based Processing of Cut Fruit, Leafy Greens & Fruit Juices for Microbial Load Reduction”. Her popular science story entitled “Lights! Sound! Action! Germ Killer Light and Sound Makes Food Safe” has been selected for AWSAR Award.