Two firms gain US salmonella testing certification

3M Food Safety has achieved AOAC-PTM Certification from the AOAC Research Institute’s Performance Tested Methods Program for its 3M™ Molecular Detection Assay – Salmonella. The 3M™ Molecular Detection System combines two technologies – isothermal DNA amplification and bioluminescence detection – for the first time, which the company claims allows it to offer “specificity and sensitivity” at molecular level, without making the product as complicated as other molecular solutions are. “We wanted to provide a product to our customers that was easy for them to use, helped them improve productivity in the lab, but still allowed them to get the accuracy and time to achieve the result they are looking for in a pathogen detection system,” says Niki Montgomery, 3M’s global marketing manager. “The combination of those two technologies also allows us to provide more real-time detection in terms of positive results. With our system you don’t need to wait until the end of a run for a positive result, they can come as early as 16 minutes. Negative results are confirmed at 75 minutes at the conclusion of the run. Those are relatively small times compared to the existing methods used.” Montgomery added that the same preparation protocol can be used across all assays, enabling technicians to increase productivity in the lab and reduce training and the possibility of human error. “The bioluminesence detection technology that we used allows us to use colour-coded assays because it doesn’t require optically clear tubes as do most PCR systems out there. From an ease-of-use perspective we can offer colour-coding all the way through our process, including the actual assay tubes that are used in the test,” she says. The company is now working on certification for its listeria and E.coli assays, as well as ISO method validation in Europe for all three. InstantLabs, meanwhile, has received AOAC-RI certification for its Salmonella Food Species Test Kit, which can be used in combination with its portable Hunter real-time PCR device. “The use of our Salmonella assay and Hunter Real-Time PCR® system allows poultry and beef processors and produce growers to confidently conduct gold-standard food safety testing at their own facilities, rather than sending samples out to external labs for analysis,” said Steven Guterman, chief executive officer of InstantLabs. “We are pleased to offer this new level of portability and efficiency to testing for salmonella and additional pathogens such as listeria monocytogenes.”

Two firms gain US salmonella testing certification

Two companies have achieved US certification for pathogen testing kits, which can be used to detect salmonella in meat products.

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