So researchers at the University of Minnesota have discovered a substance that a particular bacteria creates can be used to treat food so it could sit on shelves for upwards of three years.
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Called bisin, it's made by Bifodobacterium longum, a harmless bacteria in your gut right now. And when bisin is added to food such as milk and sandwiches, it attacks “gram-negative bacteria” such as E.coli, salmonella and listeria.
This allows such foods to last much longer on the shelf, even unrefrigerated.
These scientists are so confident the product will revolutionize
the industry they've patented.
But despite it being a “natural” substance that doesn't “compromise
nutrient quality,” it won't stop vegetables or fruit from rotting. That
kind of decomposition can't be helped by bisin. So in the
foreseeable future, there won't be any undead or immortal celery or
bananas . . . just 3-year-old milk that won't make you vomit or die.
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Before becoming an award-winning restaurant critic for OC Weekly in 2007, Edwin Goei went by the alias “elmomonster” on his blog Monster Munching, in which he once wrote a whole review in haiku.