Oxoid promises quick and cost-effective food analysis

These, claims the firm, have the potential to reduce or even eliminate the need for further confirmatory testing.

Chromogenic technology detects specific enzyme activity in target organisms quickly and accurately. These enzymes cleave a colourless substrate in the medium, releasing colour molecules within the colonies of interest and allowing them to be clearly seen, differentiated and counted.

Food safety can increasingly make or break the fortunes of a company. In industrialised countries, the percentage of people suffering from foodborne diseases each year has been reported to be up to 30 per cent. And in the US, for example, around 76 million cases of foodborne diseases, resulting in 325,000 hospitalisations and 5,000 deaths, are estimated to occur each year.

The food industry therefore increasingly needs cost-effective analytical methods that are safe, accurate and minimise waste to develop methods to screen, detect, and confirm multiple chemical residues and harmful bacteria, including their toxins, in foodstuffs.

The extensive selection of Oxoid Chromogenic Media available to the food industry includes Oxoid Chromogenic Bacillus cereus Agar for the selective isolation and differentiation of Bacillus cereus.

In addition, there is Oxoid Chromogenic E. coli/coliform Agar and Oxoid Selective E. coli/coliform Agar for the detection and differentiation of E. coli from other coliforms. Oxoid Chromogenic Enterobacter sakazakii Agar can be used for the enumeration of Enterobacter sakazakii in infant milk and other foods and differentiation from other Enterobacteriaceae.

Oxoid Chromogenic Salmonella Medium can be used for the identification of Salmonella species and selective differentiation from other Enterobacteriaceae, while Oxoid Chromogenic Listeria Agar can improve the isolation, enumeration and presumptive identification of Listeria species and differentiation of pathogenic Listeria monocytogenes and Listeria ivanovii from other Listeria species.

It was announced earlier this year Oxoid​ will be acquired by Fisher Scientific International. Oxoid was first acquired by PPM Ventures in 2000 following a secondary buyout from Cinven, but definitive agreements were reached in February for US-based Fisher Scientific International to acquire the UK diagnostic firm for £177.5 million (€262.5m).

Fisher Scientific is a $3.6 billion manufacturer and distributor of products to the scientific research, clinical laboratory and safety markets which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The company's 10,000 employees located in approximately 145 countries.