A team of scientists from the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, VNU University of Science, Hanoi University of Science and Technology and the Russian Academy of Sciences has jointly developed a biosensor that determines the freshness of meat.

According to its developers, the device uses a porous graphene electrode embedded with zinc oxide nanoparticles to accurately detect aging byproducts in meat, thereby ensuring its quality and safety.

Source: Ngo Thi Hong Le

To avoid the significant health risks associated with consuming non-fresh meat — for instance, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, and in extreme cases, dehydration and organ failure — the team’s biosensor helps to detect hypoxanthine (HXA), a key indicator of the freshness of meat that forms when adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the energy-providing molecule present in cells, undergoes decomposition post-mortem.

To create the biosensor, the team used a polyimide film, which undergoes conversion into porous graphene via a pulsed laser process. The zinc oxide nanoparticles within the electrode draw HXA molecules to its surface. Once the interaction occurs, the HXA oxidizes and transfers electrons, thereby causing a voltage spike, which reveals meat freshness.

The biosensor detected HXA levels in pork during lab tests with a 98% rate of accuracy.

The team suggests that the biosensor might one day be used in the manufacture of pharmaceuticals or environmental monitoring.

An article detailing the biosensor, Non-enzymatic electrochemical sensor based on ZnO nanoparticles/porous graphene for the detection of hypoxanthine in pork meat appears in the journal AIP Advances.