Possibly Dumb and Definitely Lazy UV Antibacterial Question

[USS Triumphant]

I've read and seen recently where they use UV lights to eliminate bacteria, virii, and other microbes from foodstuffs as part of the process of preparing them for market. And they have a water bottle on the market now that exposes the water to UV for the same purposes, but at the end-user level.

What I want to know is: If you had one of these lights in your kitchen, say, mounted above the counter where you prep food while cooking it, what if anything would be the downside? Right off hand, I'm imagining that the light might negatively affect yogurt or anything with an active microbial culture, like the yeast in baked goods. Would that be true? And would the cook be in danger of sunburn or skin cancer?

Yeah, I realize I could probably Google around and come up with something like an answer to this - but where's the fun in that? I'd rather start a conversation about it here.

 

[farmkid]

UV kills stuff by causing DNA damage to the extent that the cell can no longer function. Cells can repair some UV-induced DNA damage, but when it gets too bad, the cell dies because it cannot repair that much damage. So, the answer is that the cook would probably get a sunburn from the UV light, and possible skin cancer later on.

 

[Christopher]

Pet peeve: There's no such word as "virii." The plural of virus is viruses, because the Latin word vīrus means snake venom, which is uncountable, so the word had no plural form. "Virii" would be the plural form of "virius," if there were such a word. The plural of "-us" is just "-i." (Radius/radii; focus/foci.) Except that vīrus is a second-declension neuter, so its plural might be something like vīra or vīrua if it had one.

 

[USS Triumphant]

Pet peeve: There's no such word as "virii."

I would argue that anything with an understandable meaning in an English-speaking conversation IS a word - in English, anyway. I believe you to be correct about the Latin, though - and since it's a dead language, I guess it won't adapt to accept the usage,either.

 

[USS Triumphant]

UV kills stuff by causing DNA damage to the extent that the cell can no longer function. Cells can repair some UV-induced DNA damage, but when it gets too bad, the cell dies because it cannot repair that much damage. So, the answer is that the cook would probably get a sunburn from the UV light, and possible skin cancer later on.

Okay, I can see that. So maybe it would be okay if you wore gloves...

What about yeast and yogurt?

 

[Icemizer]

Whatever doesnt kill them makes them stronger...

 

[Myasishchev]

^No, whatever kills the weak makes the next generations stronger.

As for a UV lamp, I wouldn't leave it on all the time next to my hands or face, no. On the plus side, you can totally make your own Vitamin D now.