Food Protection Trends - October 2008 - 732

Industry Products is available on VIDAS® system for automated pathogen detection. “E. coli O157:H7 is a major health threat and we are very proud to be at the forefront of the industry with an innovative solution for faster and more precise detection,” said Alexandre Mérieux, bioMérieux corporate vice president, industrial microbiology. “Quick, accurate detection of E. coli O157:H7 is of critical importance today as we see foodborne illness on the rise. VIDAS UP will allow food producers to detect this pathogen earlier and help keep the public safe from outbreaks.” Bacteriophages are highly speccific viruses that only infect bacteria. They use adhesion structures to bind to their bacterial hosts. In VIDAS UP, special binding proteins from bacteriophages are used for the first time for the targeted capture and detection of bacteria from a sample. This technology provides best-in-class sensitivity and specificity, particularly in highly contaminated samples such as animal waste, irrigation water and animal breeding environments. Bacteriophages are some of the most abundant life forms on earth, and are programmed exclusively to infect and identify host bacteria. Phages have co-evolved with bacteria for more than a billion years and are able to survive in the most extreme environments including soil, animal waste and intestinal tracts. Research shows that phages offer a number of advantages over antibodies, such as superior specificity and superior binding, when used in microbiological test systems. Phage proteins have been proven to provide robust performance in many different applications, even when challenged with the most demanding and complex food matrices. bioMérieux 800.638.4835 Hazelwood, MO www.biomerieux.com bioMérieux bioMérieux Unveils Groundbreaking E. coli O157:H7 Detection Technology ioMérieux, is proud to introduce a breakthrough in food quality testing,VIDAS® UP, for the detection of Escherichia coli (E. coli) O157:H7. This new solution is based on the latest technology available for food pathogen screening: phage recombinant protein, which offers unique specificity and sensitivity. E. coli O157:H7 is a strain of Escherichia coli that has caused outbreaks of hemorrhagic colitis in the United States, Canada, Japan, and Europe, in some cases leading to death. VIDAS UP delivers test results in just seven hours and has the flexibility of analyzing larger sample sizes of up to 375 grams. It is significantly faster than molecular methods which can incur additional equipment expenditure and complexity. Exclusively licensed to bioMérieux, the recombinant phage technology was developed by the German company Profos AG. The new test Silliker Food Science Center Launches New Microbial Identification Program lusive or hard-to-identify microorganisms are a leading cause of product spoilage and contamination in the food industry. Through its new “Microbial Identification Program,” the Silliker Food Science Center can provide companies with accurate and reliable source tracking services utilizing two state-of-theart technologies: gene sequencing and molecular subtyping by rep-PCR. Recognized industry-wide as the “gold standard in culture identification,” gene sequencing analyzes the ribosomal RNA-encoding genes of microorganisms. Utilized for the identification of bacteria, yeasts and molds, gene sequencing eliminates the need for subjective interpretations that are common in many conventional methods. To identify isolates to their closest genetic relative, the Food Science Center employs a comprehensive database containing over 1,700 known bacteria and 1000 fungi. b E Be sure to mention, “I read about it in Food Protection Trends”! The publishers do not warrant, either expressly or by implication, the factual accuracy of the products or descriptions herein, nor do they so warrant any views or opinions offered by the manufacturer of said articles and products. 732 FOOD PROTECTION TRENDS | OCTOBER 2008

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Food Protection Trends - October 2008

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