◎孫宇青
How many times have you skipped work due to food poisoning? And throughout the day, you keep wondering, "Was it the burger from McDonald’s or was it KFC’s bucket chicken?" The real culprit was the week-old sausage from your fridge.
你有多少次因為吃壞肚子而蹺班？那一整天，你不斷想著，「到底是麥當勞的漢堡，還是肯德基的炸雞有問題？」然而，真正的兇手是冰箱裡放了一個禮拜的香腸。
Now, we could put an end to this dietary problem since researchers from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology have found a quick-fix way to spot bacteria on the surface of refrigerated foods in just a few seconds.
現在，南韓科學技術院的研究人員發現一種可以在幾秒內迅速偵測食物上細菌的方法，從此以後我們就不必再為這種飲食問題傷腦筋了。
The laser technique is quite simple. Bacteria such as salmonella have hair-like flagella that they use to propel themselves across surfaces. This movement turns the surface of contaminated food into an ocean of writhing microorganisms. When a red, coherent laser beam hits contaminated food, it is scattered through the material, creating a random pattern called laser speckle.
這種雷射技術相當簡單。沙門氏菌之類的細菌，有像毛髮一樣的鞭毛，使其可以在物體表面移動，發霉食物的表面因而像是一片微生物蠕動的海洋。若以光源穩定的紅外線照射發霉的食物，光線就會散射到物體表面，此即雷射斑點。
All that is needed is a camera that can record the change over a few seconds.
只需要一台相機和幾秒鐘時間，就能把整個變化記錄下來。
The equipment is not expensive. It can be easily installed in your home refrigerators. And the new technique can significantly improve food hygiene and thereby reduce the number of cases of food poisoning each year.
這個設備不貴，且可以輕易裝設在自家冰箱。這項新技術可大幅改善食物衛生，每年的食物中毒事件也能因此減少。