Dipstick Test Detects Spoiled Food

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Tierno, who did call the findings "a great beginning," said that when food spoils, both volatile and nonvolatile amines are produced. "A dead carcass will not decide which kind to display, both are present. Whether your system detects one or another, it doesn't matter."

Dr. Pascal James Imperato, chairman of the department of preventive medicine and community health at SUNY Downstate Medical Center and former commissioner of health for New York City, noted that a negative result in this test does not mean the food is safe to eat raw.

That's because the test only detects the products caused by bacterial breakdown of food as the bacteria "eat" it. Some pathogens don't "ingest" the food they inhabit, and even if they do, that breakdown will be slow if the food is properly refrigerated.

"All it is doing is measuring degradation of protein due to spoilage. So, if the test is negative, that doesn't mean the food isn't contaminated with toxicogenic E. coli, salmonella, staphylococcus or any other microbe."

Indeed, Imperato said, a test such as this could not have prevented the recent E. coli outbreak linked to contaminated spinach, for instance, because the pathogens were not breaking down the leaves. "Very often, these organisms are simply on the surface of the vegetables but not attacking the plant," he explained.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration unveiled a draft of new voluntary guidelines for commercial processing and handling of fresh-cut vegetables and fruit to minimize such outbreaks.

In the meantime, the best way to prevent food poisoning, Tierno said, is to consider all food potentially pathogenic. "If you practice good food hygiene, and you cook your food well, you will kill potential pathogens, whether a parasite in the fish, or a [bacteria] in the fish, or E. coli in meat.

"In public health," Imperato said, "there is an old adage: When in doubt, throw it out."

More information

For more information on food handling, visit the U.S. Department of Agriculture.