27.6.95

Brain scanner to foil meat cheats

By Bob Ward 

SCIENTISTS have developed a technique using a modified brain scanner to guard meat 
eaters against food poisoning.

MPs will be told today that the amount of water in preserved meats can be measured 
with the method. Too much fluid can allow harmful organisms to grow.

The technique of magnetic resonance imaging was first used in Hammersmith Hospital in 
1981 to identify damage to the brain caused by multiple sclerosis.

Professor Laurie Taylor, of Cambridge University, will describe the new application at a 
Royal Society of Chemistry meeting in the House of Commons.

The method can also check whether stocks of meat and poultry labelled as fresh have been 
frozen, then thawed for sale. The scanners now cost £400,000 but a £60,000 version should 
be available to industry within the next two years.

Professor Hall said: "I envisage designing a low-cost portable MRI detector that can be driven 
around to do spot checks at meat suppliers.

"We can also monitor the amount of water added to pork during bacon curing to make sure 
it conforms to the legal limit.

"If someone wanted to be unscrupulous, then they could deliberately fudge it so that they added more water than was needed."

However, the professor is confident that the food industry will welcome the introduction of 
the scanners.