‘Artificial tongue’ can detect chemical composition of alcoholic drinks

Beverage manufacturers and consumers may soon have a small, portable kit, not much bigger than a covid test, to check the quality and safety of alcoholic beverages.

The device is described as an “artificial tongue” because it can detect additives, toxins and the sweetness of the drink with just a few drops.

Shuo Huang of Nanjing University in China says that while this first generation of the new technology can’t yet test for date-rapeseed drugs in spiked drinks or detect methanol contamination, which recently resulted in the deaths of six backpackers in Laos, future versions might.

Current methods of alcoholic beverage analysis, such as liquid chromatography, involve expensive and cumbersome laboratory equipment, requiring expert technicians to operate and analyze samples.

The artificial tongue relies on biological nanopore technology. This uses a modified organism such as a bacterium with a small hole or pore, only a few nanometers in diameter, in its cell membrane. By charging the membrane with electricity, small molecules of the substance being tested can be drawn into and through the pore.

As these molecules pass through the nanopore, they create a unique electrical signature that can be analyzed to identify the chemicals present in the sample. Nanopores have already revolutionized DNA sequencing, enabling near-instantaneous testing of genetic material with an easily transportable device.

Huang and his colleagues used a nanopore already deployed in DNA sequencing, made with a bacterium called Mycobacterium smegmatis.

The device uses artificial intelligence to identify the molecules that pass through the nanopore, including flavors and additives, Huang says. “The sensor will immediately tell us what kind of alcoholic beverage it is,” he says. “It can provide a quantitative standard for the product and also easily spot counterfeit alcoholic beverages.”

The nanopore detector only needs a source of electricity to work, he says. “This nanopore sensing assay can be done at home, in the office or at the roadside, as simple as a covid test,” says Huang. “All you have to do is add a drop of alcoholic beverage to the sensor and wait for the result. The machine learning algorithm will do the rest of the job for you.”