Future Outlook

Overview

We wanted our product to be used on the factory work floor, to that end we designed a cartridge that could be used easily and safely. Legislatively this is still a problem as any GMO that is used needs a special GMO permit throughout European countries. In most cases food industry companies we went to are very opposed to acquiring such permits for factories as the public image of GMO's is often considered dangerous, especially in the food industry.

The cartridge we designed is made to be very cheap to produce (just injection molded plastics and bacteria), and very easy to use. It does not require any extra expensive lab equipment nor would it need much training. This has clear advantages compared to more involved methods such as PCR analysis which need a well-stocked lab with highly trained personnel.

Taking into account all our findings during our project we came up with two scenarios in which our detection device could be used.

Current scenario

As current regulation and perceptions about GMOs would prevent the use of our product in a dairy factory, we would like to propose the IMPACT truck, a mobile lab inside a van. The IMPACT truck is a lab on wheels. This lab meets all the safety regulations to be a biosafety level one lab (BSL1). In a BSL1 lab it is allowed to work with non pathogenic micro-organisms such as E. coli DH5α and L. lactis. All waste needs to be sterilised before it can leave the lab. The person working in the van needs to have a certificate, which states that he or she knows how to work safely with GMOs. A positive aspect of this lab on wheels is that the factories do not need to send their samples to a special facility. The truck drives by, the samples will be tested and the results will be quick and on site. Another positive aspect is that the factory using this test does not need a permit for the use of GMOs. If they would want to use the self test, they would need a permit for the use of GMOs in the factory. This could be very bad for their public image and does not fit with their ‘GMO free policy’. Handing the samples to a different company doing the tests for them, would solve this problem.

ARSOlux - Hauke Harms

On Monday 23rd of October we got in contact with Hauke Harms from Arsolux. Previously we heard from Wouter Ghering that Arsolux used a truck in which they could use their GMO biosensor. According to Auke the use of a truck as a mobile GMO lab was fairly easy to achieve legislation wise. They bought a regular VR truck, changed the inside to a lab including a special waste bin and made sure it was clear from the outside that it was a GMO lab. The difficulty in their own project was due to the costs of getting to product on the market and once it would be, if it had any market value. The project came to a halt due to this uncertain market, as sponsors backed away. As most companies we contacted during our project were quite reluctant on using GMOs inside their factory, because of public permits, the use of a truck outside of it by our own company seemed the perfect solution.

Future scenario where the use of GMOs is more accepted

During our meetings with multiple facilities of a big dairy plant in the Netherlands we learned that all bacteriophage testing is done in Leeuwarden for their factories in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium. The milk samples need to be shipped from the factories all the way to the laboratory. From sending a sample to getting a result can take up to one week. As our detection cartridge is easy to use by any factory employee and easily disposable by the built in hydrogen peroxide unit. This could save lots of time and money, as samples do not have to be shipped over a long distance anymore. The factory will have results in times of hours instead of days or even a week. The fast and specific results will help in making the best follow-up choice. Milk or whey samples can be taken whenever they think is necessary and can immediately be tested. The results will give more insight into the fermentation process and hopefully it will save lots of milk that otherwise would have been discarded. This will be even more efficient than when the factory has to ‘wait’ on the IMPACT truck to come by.

Chr-Hansen and DSM told us that there is a need for a product which customers could use at home. These companies offer bacteriohage testing as a service for their customers. If they could send a testing device to their customers instead, this could save time and money. Currently, this would not be possible to do with our device, as a permit is necessary to use it. In this future outlook where the use of GMOs is more accepted this self test could be possible. We expect the laws to be different, which will make it easier to bring a product like ours on the market.