OAKDALE, Minn. — QualiTru Sampling Systems (formerly known as QMI) is commemorating its 40th year of innovations that it said have helped the dairy and liquid food industries produce safe, high-quality products over the decades.
The company, originally known as QMI, was established in 1983 by Darrell Bigalke, a dairy microbiologist and entrepreneur. Bigalke, who had previously managed the dairy microbiology lab at Ecolab, acquired the manufacturing rights to a sterile sampling septum that complemented and augmented his dairy food safety consulting business. Drawing on his extensive knowledge of the dynamics of microbial contamination, he focused his new company on the singular mission of promoting the unique practice of inline aseptic sampling for the dairy industry.
In 1985, when serious outbreaks of dairy-related foodborne illnesses caused by Salmonella and Listeria sickened thousands of people in the U.S., Bigalke played a central role in helping shape the establishment and adoption of the new sampling standards in the dairy industry. Bigalke, the dairy industry, and key regulatory bodies all shared the same goal: to initiate process monitoring measures to reduce the chances of future foodborne illness outbreaks in the dairy industry.
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