During this exclusive podcast, recorded at Anuga FoodTec in Cologne last week, Diaz explained that the plastic sensor kit worked upon the basis of antibody detection - with antibodies developed specifically for different wild yeasts.
A biochemical reaction occurs when a given yeast encounters its given antibody within one of the 10 Plexiglas tubes that the kit (which no bigger than a cellphone) comprises; the tube then turns blue to indicate the yeast's present.
Prior to presenting the technology at Anuga, Diaz's colleague Dr. Mark Bücking said: “Depending on what the winemaker wants, it’s possible to analyse the ‘good’, sought-after yeasts or the ‘bad’, undesirable ones. The technology is very flexible; all you have to do is make the antibodies.”
Currently, only big laboratories were able to carry out such microbiological analyses, which meant a loss of time, as Bucking explained: “Everything’s much quicker with the new antibody testing kit. It’s possible to carry out the test in situ."