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Inkoa Sistemas, a Basque engineering and consultancy company specialising in providing integral solutions for the food and environmental industries, has developed a kit for the rapid detection of pesticides in water which will contribute to lowering the impact of traces of pesticide compounds on human health.

The kit consists of an enzyme biosensor designed to guarantee measurements up to the maximum limits for phytosanitary residue currently dictated by European legislation, and were designed by Inkoa in collaboration with Cidetec-IK4, a Basque technological centre specialising in electrochemical technologies.

The device is the fruit of NADEBIO, an Inkoa R&' || 'amp;D project co-financed by the Gaitek Programme of the Department for Industry, Innovation, Commerce and Tourism of the Basque Government. The project aims to develop a system for the rapid detection of neurotoxic pesticides which is low-cost, highly reliable and which will enable scientists to give a faster response in the event of contamination by phytosanitary products in the food industry and the environmental sector.

The biosensor has a number of important improvements on the traditional detection techniques used in the sector, reducing health risks for consumers caused by this type of compound. Among its advantages is its great sensitivity when detecting neurotoxic pesticides, its low cost and its versatility, as it can be used both for testing for pesticides in drinking water and in the prior testing of waste water, helping in this way to ensure the environmental and health safety of the water.

The enzyme kit is a key part of the research at Inkoa Sistemas for the development of new analytical methods aimed at the detection of contaminants and pathogens. The results they have obtained will enable this company to launch a new product line of sensors developed using innovative and low-cost materials which can be used by the food industry and environmental sector.