Australians were urged on Thursday not to panic and fear a bio-terrorist attack after callers to Sydney radio stations reported glow-in-the-dark pork chops in their fridges.
The New South Wales Food Authority said it regularly receives sightings of glowing food — a phenomenon caused by the harmless and naturally occurring bacteria Pseudomonas fluorescens that is nature’s way of preventing frost damage.
”It’s important to remember that the micro-organism responsible for the glow is not known to cause food poisoning,” chief scientist George Davey said in a statement.
The agency did, however, caution householders that the fluorescence is a tell-tale sign that the meat is not absolutely fresh and may have passed its use-by date. — Sapa-DPA