Clean Cheese: Bacteria-Killing Countertops

New countertops are being developed by researchers at Penn State University and PPG Industries that combine titanium dioxide with ultraviolet light to "rip apart the chemical bonds of bacteria." The substance "destroys any organic molecules it touches, including dirt." Here's a little known fact, humans are made of organic molecules. I'm assuming this is safe and won't "destroy" the organic molecules in, say, my fingers, if I touch the countertop.

Counters would be coated with a thin layer — about 80,000 times thinner than a human hair — of the new chemical compounds. When hit by ultraviolet rays from lights, the coating would produce electrically charged particles that rip apart the chemical bonds of bacteria. The slightly charged coating would also be chemically slippery, preventing bacteria from sticking to the surface.

U.S. Rep. Melissa Hart, R-Pa., is working to secure a $100,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help PPG and Penn State accelerate the development of this technology and bring it to market as quickly as possible.

"It's something that is so new and so cutting edge that it deems us looking at it, especially in light of the recent" food outbreaks in western Pennsylvania," Hart said.

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