Agriculture Report - Trying to Improve Food Safety With a Camera
农业报道 - 一种提高食品安全的扫描装置
This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
这里是美国之音慢速英语农业报道。
Europe's deadly outbreak of a rare form of E. coli bacteria has brought new attention to food safety issues. One of the problems when people get sick from food is that the simplest question is often difficult or even impossible to answer. Just what did the people eat that made them sick?
欧洲一种罕见大肠杆菌的致命爆发引发了人们对食品安全问题的新的关注。在人们因为食品致病的一系列问题中，有一个最简单的问题却常常难于甚至无法回答，这就是，他们吃了什么导致生病？
Of course, one way to avoid these medical mysteries is to keep dangerous organisms out of the food supply. This is easier said than done, but scientists keep looking for new ways.
当然，要避免这一类医学难题的办法之一就是防止有害微生物进入食品供应环节。这说起来容易做起来难，但科学家们一直在寻求新的解决途径。
Scientists in the United States have developed an experimental system that uses a high-tech optical scanner. The inspection system is meant for packing houses where produce is sorted for market.
美国科学家开发了一种使用高科技光学扫描装置的实验性系统。这种检测系统针对于食品包装上市环节。
The system is designed to identify the presence of contaminants like soil or animal waste on fresh produce. These can be sources of Escherichia coli, better known as E. coli. E. coli bacteria naturally live in the intestines of humans and many animals. Most kinds of E. coli are harmless but some can make people sick.
该系统用于识别新鲜农产品表面上的土壤或动物粪便等污染物。这类污染物可能是大肠杆菌的来源。大肠杆菌通常存在于人类或许多动物的肠道内，多数的大肠杆菌是无害的，但部分大肠杆菌能够使人致病。
The new scanner can also show damage and imperfections that might make the produce unappealing to shoppers.
这种新型扫描装置还能够显示出可能导致丧失对消费者吸引力的产品损伤或瑕疵。
Scientists designed the system at a Department of Agriculture research center in Beltsville, Maryland. Moon Kim of the Agricultural Research Service led the team.
科学家们在马里兰州贝茨维尔市的农业部研究中心设计了这套系统。农业研究所的穆恩·金姆（Moon Kim）是这个研究小组的负责人。
MOON KIM: "We were requested, we were asked, to develop a method to detect contamination in produce. So we started with the apple as the model sample."
金姆：“我们被要求开发出一种检测农产品污染物的办法。于是我们以苹果为原型开始研究。”
The scanner uses a high-speed camera placed over the conveyer belt that moves the produce along. As the apples move along the belt, the scanner captures images of each piece of fruit.
这个扫描装置使用一个安装在传送带上高速摄影机，当苹果在传送带上传送时，扫描装置就会捕捉到每个苹果的图像。”
The system is equipped with an ultraviolet lamp and a halogen lamp that produces near-infrared light. A spectrograph device can use the near-infrared light bouncing off an apple to show evidence of damage. The ultraviolet light can show contaminants.
该系统还配备了一个紫外线灯和一个能够生成近红外光的卤素灯。摄谱仪设备可以使用近红外光检测出有损伤的苹果，而紫外线可以显示出污染物。
Moon Kim says the team hopes the system will be available before long.
金姆表示，研究小组希望这套设备在不久以后能够投入使用。
MOON KIM: "We are targeting for development in commercial plants for the next several years."
金姆：“我们的目标是未来几年投入商业运营。”
The scanner can direct a sorting machine to separate the bad apples from the good ones. The system is currently able to show the surface of only half the apple as it speeds by. The inventers hope to improve the process so it can show the whole surface.
这种扫描装置可以指导分类机器挑拣出不好的苹果。系统目前只能在苹果快速通过时检测到苹果的半个表面。开发人员希望改善流程，使其可以检测到苹果的整个表面。
And that’s the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. You can watch captioned videos of our reports at the VOA Learning English channel on YouTube. I’m Bob Doughty. |