With just a flicker of blue light, little Johnny"s mother one day may know for sure whether her son washed his hands before dinner.
New light-scanning technology borrowed from the slaughterhouse promises to help hospital workers, restaurant employees -- one day, even kids -- make sure that hand washing zaps some germs that can carry deadly illnesses. A device the size of an electric hand dryer detects fecal contamination and pinpoints on a digital display where on a person"s hands more scrubbing is needed.
eMerge Interactive Inc., a struggling technology company in Sebastian, Florida, is hoping to tweak light scanners it already sells to beef plants to detect the same kinds of nasty germs on humans. The blue-light scanners could dramatically improve hygiene among employees who forget to wash their hands after bathroom breaks. This practice is a leading cause of food poisoning that afflicts tens of millions of Americans every year.