Fruit and vegetable processors will be able to save money with two new developments in food-safety technology, researchers say.

First up is a laser with the capacity to identify numerous types of bacteria three times faster and at one tenth of the cost of existing systems.

The second innovation uses chlorine dioxide gas to kill pathogens on all types of fresh produce.

The laser system is available for licensing and both technologies are awaiting patents. The research team at Purdue University in Indiana responsible for the two concepts said it was responding to increasing concern surrounding food safety and demand for faster, more cost-efficient solutions.

Richard Linton, a professor of food science at Purdue University, said: “We can use the laser technology to detect problems more quickly, determine exactly what the pathogen is and where it came from. As for using this gas as a disinfectant, I would say that in my 13 years of doing research, it is 10,000 to 100,000 times more effective than any process I have seen.”

The laser technology works by shining though a petri dish containing bacteria, which is then identified by a computer programme that can measure the refraction of light unique to each bacteria cluster.

Having confirmed the effectiveness of chlorine dioxide in killing microbial pathogens, the research team is investigating using it to sterilize processing equipment - to evaluate whether it could speed up sterilisation and eliminate the heat energy needed for the processes.

Food science professor Mark Morgan said the team is working on a system to dispense the appropriate amount of chlorine dioxide. Too little gas would fail to kill the pathogens while too much would affect the quality