FOOD-poisoning bacteria can be frozen to death by blasting them with pellets
of dry ice. Unlike the chemical disinfectants in widespread use, the dry ice
pellets evaporate instantly, leaving no residue.
The “cold jet” technique is already used to clean grease off industrial
machinery and strip paint off aircraft. Now a team of British researchers hopes
to turn it into a tool for decontaminating surfaces and equipment in restaurants
and food-processing factories.
“We literally freeze them to death,” says Ian Millar, head of the team
developing the technique at Microchem Bioscience, a company in Aberdeen.
Although he’s not sure how…
