Hygiena Completes Acquisition of Biomedal Diagnostics Food Safety

Hygiena, a Camarillo-Calif., Warburg Pincus-portfolio company that specializes in rapid food safety and environmental sanitation testing, has acquired Biomedal’s Food Safety division from Seville, Spain-based Biomedal. The division offers a wide range of allergen tests including the GlutenTox product line which contains the highly specific G12 antibody which detects the most immunogenic component that is responsible for gluten intolerance, the company said. GlutenTox Pro holds the certification of the AOAC Research Institute for Performance Tested methods (certificate no. 061502).

The new division will continue to be based in Seville, and will be named Hygiena Diagnóstica España S.L. It will provide more than 20 specific allergen tests available as a sensitive enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) format or a simple dipstick format that can be easily used to verify cleaning efforts and test finished products, the company said.

“We are excited to welcome the new team to Hygiena and look forward to serving our global food and beverage customers with a wider food safety testing portfolio,” said Steven Nason, Chief Executive Officer of Hygiena “Our allergen business has been growing rapidly and customers around the world have been asking us for a wider array of allergen tests. With this acquisition of Biomedal Food Safety, we now offer an allergen line that is best in class. We will continue investing in new product research and development and further expand our allergen product portfolio.”

Biomedal Food Safety employees will become employees of Hygiena, and the division’s products will continue to be available through its existing distribution network.  The Biomedal Food Safety division is a leading provider of allergen tests to top food processors and its sales growth has averaged 25% over the last 5 years.