Reports about “plastic rice” are likely incorrect according to a food fraud expert who says it could have been actual rice that had been poorly stored for up to a decade.

Chris Elliott, professor of food safety and founder of the Institute for Global Food Security at Queen’s University Belfast,
Continue Reading So-called plastic rice could have been the real deal, but stored for a decade

University of Arizona researchers have created a portable method for detecting low levels of norovirus.

The analysis is done automatically by a smartphone app when a sample of water is loaded onto the chip.

Detecting very small amounts of norovirus in water or food samples typically involves a polymerase chain
Continue Reading Researchers develop method to detect low levels of norovirus

Smartphones might be an important tool for food safety inspectors because of their inconspicuousness. Researchers at Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences have found that phones used in place of clipboards can improve the quality of data collected during observations. According to a phenomenon called the Hawthorne Effect, people
Continue Reading Study Finds Smartphones Can Improve Food Safety Inspections