Each year the tiny, rod-shaped species of bacteria with a love for rapid reproduction on human food causes a large number of food poisoning cases around the world, sometimes leading to severe illness and even death.
But Ravishankar’s research lab may have discovered a way to take down the number of food poisoning cases due to Salmonella and possibly other bacteria: prepare food on surfaces made with materials that contain some amount of the element copper, known as copper alloys.
Ravishankar’s lab collaborated with Chris Rensing, a former associate professor in the UA department of soil, water and environmental sciences and now at Research Triangle Institute International, for the study, which was published recently in the journal Food Microbiology.
