VOA慢速英语:Trying to Improve Food Safety With a Camera

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?
欧洲罕见的大肠杆菌的致命爆发引起了人们对食品安全的新关注。人们因食品而患病的一个问题是,最简单的问题经常很难甚至不可能得到回答。就是什么食品使人们患病？

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，避免这些医学不解之谜的一个方法是使食物供给远离危险的生物体。虽然这说起来容易做起来难，但是科学家们一直在寻找新方法。

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.
美国的科学家已经发明了使用高科技光扫描仪的实验系统。这个检查系统为将食品分类上市的包装车间设计的。

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.
这个系统的设计是为了检查新鲜产品中是否含有像土壤或动物粪便这些污染物。这些污染物是大肠杆菌的来源。大肠杆菌自然寄居在人类和许多动物的肠道里。大部分大肠杆菌是无害的，但是有些会使人患病。

The new scanner can also show damage and imperfections that might make the produce unappealing to shoppers.
新扫描仪也能展现产品的损害和缺点，这可能使其对顾客失去吸引力。

Scientists designed the system at a Department of Agriculture research center in Beltsville, Maryland. Moon Kim of the Agricultural Research Service led the team.
科学家们在马里兰贝茨维尔农业部研究中心设计这个系统。农业科学研究院的Moon Kim带领着这个小组。

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."
Moon Kim：“我们被请求，被要求发明一种检查产品污染物的方法。所以我们把苹果作为样品开始实验。”

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.
扫描仪使用高速照相机，它被覆盖于传送带的上空，同时移动产品。随着苹果跟传送带一起移动，扫描器捕捉到苹果每一面的图像。

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.
这个系统装有紫外线灯和能产生近红外光的卤素灯。光谱仪装置是通过红外光来检测苹果以展示他损坏的证据。紫外光则可以显示出污染物.

Moon Kim says the team hopes the system will be available before long.
Moon Kim称他的小组希望这个系统不久后可供使用。

MOON KIM: "We are targeting for development in commercial plants for the next several years."
Moon Kim：“我们未来几年的目标是能发展商业化的工厂.”

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.
扫描仪可以通过控制分类机把坏的苹果跟好的苹果分开。因为苹果的高速通过,如今这个系统只能显示苹果的一半表面。发明家们希望提高这个过程，使其能够显示出整个苹果。