M&Ms 'make water taste better'

Professor Peter Robertson is leading the research

Sweets could provide the key to better-tasting drinking water, according to researchers in Aberdeen.

Scientists at Robert Gordon University (RGU) are trying to develop new technologies which would remove the musty taste from surface water.

They found that a pigment used in M&M sweets could dramatically improve the bad taste.

The success of the project has been recognised by the Royal Society of Chemistry.

A spokesperson for the university said that semi-volatile compounds produced by micro-organisms in surface water had long caused problems for the drinking water industry.

These compounds can taint water and fish, producing what is described as an earthy-musty flavour.

Professor Peter Robertson and Dr Linda Lawton, of RGU's centre for environmental engineering and sustainable energy, are leading the project to develop new technologies.

A pigment used in M&Ms improved the taste

They are trying to find innovative ways to improve the existing methods.

Dr Lawton said: "Titanium dioxide is a cheap pigment used in many food stuffs including the white on M&M sweets.

"However, in the presence of ultraviolet light it destroys the taint compounds in water.

"Already the technology has been shown to destroy a wide range of organic contaminants and promises to surpass conventional water treatments."

One of the researchers working on the project, 25-year-old Edmund Bellu, has been selected to take part in a national poster presentation for younger chemists in the House of Commons next Monday.

The best display will win the £500 top prize.