interesting item for food and science fans!
another good reason to avoid genetically engineered stuff. there is a much cooler and better way if we only encourage it!
Edible Films With Superpowers
[ny times, free, registration required]
LEAVE heirloom tomatoes to the organic farmers and pork belly to the chefs. In the chemistry department at Rutgers University and other laboratories like it, the real action is in less trendy ingredients like oregano, crab shells and milk.
In a handful of food science labs around the country, people who talk about food in terms of microbes and polymers have been turning the natural pathogen fighters found in everyday food into edible films and powders.
If their work pans out, thin films woven with a thyme derivative that can kill E. coli could line bags of fresh spinach. The same material in powder form might be sprinkled on packages of chicken to stop salmonella.
Strawberries could be dipped in a soup made from egg proteins and shrimp shells. The resulting film - invisible, edible and, ideally, flavorless - would fight mold, kill pathogens and keep the fruit ripe longer.... [more]
really, really cool! i would be happy to explore products such as these.
Edible Films With Superpowers
[ny times, free, registration required]
LEAVE heirloom tomatoes to the organic farmers and pork belly to the chefs. In the chemistry department at Rutgers University and other laboratories like it, the real action is in less trendy ingredients like oregano, crab shells and milk.
In a handful of food science labs around the country, people who talk about food in terms of microbes and polymers have been turning the natural pathogen fighters found in everyday food into edible films and powders.
If their work pans out, thin films woven with a thyme derivative that can kill E. coli could line bags of fresh spinach. The same material in powder form might be sprinkled on packages of chicken to stop salmonella.
Strawberries could be dipped in a soup made from egg proteins and shrimp shells. The resulting film - invisible, edible and, ideally, flavorless - would fight mold, kill pathogens and keep the fruit ripe longer.... [more]
really, really cool! i would be happy to explore products such as these.