BioMérieux Launches New Salmonella Detection Technology

BioMérieux has launched a new food safety testing method, Vidas UP Salmonella (SPT), utilizing recombinant bacteriophage (phage) proteins for the targeted capture and detection of Salmonella bacteria in food and environmental samples. The technology complements the company’s 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.”

The Vidas SPT assay, utilizing phage protein technology, is able to detect low levels of contamination by Salmonella and is a rapid and easy-to-use diagnostic tools for the screening of Salmonella in environmental samples and standard and large-size food samples. The technology provides a one-step sample preparation which reduces laboratory hands-on time, and delivers results in as little as 19 hours.

“Because phages are extremely host-specific, they can offer unrivaled specificity and sensitivity for the targeted capture, detection and differentiation of bacteria from a given sample,” said Dr. Lawrence Goodridge, associate professor of food microbiology, Colorado State University. “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. This is critical to reducing the magnitude and severity of foodborne illness caused by the consumption of foods contaminated with dangerous bacteria.” 

For more information, visit www.biomerieux-usa.com/phage