A fast and sensitive test for detecting a potentially deadly strain of bacteria that contaminates food has been developed by scientists at the University of California, Davis. The new test targets a bacterium known as E. coli 0157:H7, which recently caused an epidemic of food poisoning in people who drank unpasteurized fruit juices. The same food-borne caused 11 deaths in Japan this year and in 1993 caused the deaths of four children who ate under-cooked hamburgers from a fast-food restaurant in the Pacific Northwest. The researchers hope the procedure will eventually be used by food inspectors and processors to prevent food poisoning caused by the bacteria. "We are announcing the development of this diagnostic test now in hopes that it can be put to use worldwide as an early-warning system in combating food poisoning," said test developer Prabhakara V. Choudary, director of the UC Davis Antibody Engineering Laboratory. The results of the study will be reported in the January issue of the Journal of Dairy Research, a British scientific publication.