New Salmonella Test Improves Food Safety

MARCY LETOILE, FrancebioMérieux unveiled VIDAS® UP Salmonella (SPT), a new food-safety testing technology for targeted capture and detection of Salmonella in food and environmental samples that uses a simple, one-step sample preparation delivers results in as little as 19 hours as compared to reference methods that require up to three days.

The new VIDAS SPT assay utilizes recombinant bacteriophage (phage) protein technology that can detect low levels of contamination by Salmonella and is one of the most rapid and easy-to-use diagnostic tools available for the screening of Salmonella in environmental samples, standard and large-size food samples. The new solution complements the companys VIDAS E. coli O157 (including H7) phage technology for the detection of Escherichia coli O157:H7.

The issue of food safety is a significant public health concern globally, and food producers and manufacturers are in need of more advanced, comprehensive and science-based approaches to ensuring the safety of their products," said Jean-Marc Durano, corporate vice president, Industrial Microbiology, bioMérieux. VIDAS SPT, the latest addition to the VIDAS UP range, provides optimum performance to help simplify agri-food laboratories workflow and deliver rapid information to maximize the overall efficiency of food production."

Dr. Lawrence Goodridge, associate professor of food microbiology, Colorado State University, said food pathogen detection methods utilizing bacteriophage technology can provide food producers with the ability to detect bacterial pathogens present in their products with unprecedented speed and reliability, which is critical to reducing the magnitude and severity of foodborne illness caused by the consumption of foods contaminated with dangerous bacteria."