Pooling method offers cost savings for food labs
range pathogenic and spoilage bacterium, according to UK-based
Matrix MicroScience.
Michael Scott, a director at Matrix said the company has developed a method of pooling five samples into one using its testing kits, thus speeding up detection of even low amounts of bacterium. ThePathatrix pooling system gives food testers a more efficient means of picking up bacteria such as Salmonella and Listeria., he told FoodProductionDaily.com.
Tougher regulatory standards and the increased reporting of food contamination in restaurants, supermarkets and processing plants has pushed companies to put a higher priority on safety, shelf lifeand cleanliness. The trend has fueled the demand for more stringent testing and tracing of food products along the supply chain to the consumer.
European food companies are also preparing for the coming into force of the EU's regulations on hygiene and on food and feed. The EU's new hygiene regulation comes into force on January 2006. Theregulation on controlling food and feed exports comes into effect in two phases, January 2006 and January 2007. The regulations are part of an EU programme to ensure food safety within the bloc.
Matrix's testing method brings down testing times to under eight hours compared to the 12 to 24 hours required by competitor's kits for thefood industry, Scott said. The speed, achieved through the pooling of five samples into one, means costs can be reduced by up to 60 per cent. Labs will spend less time on sampling by being ableto pick up lower concentrations of harmful bacteria.
For example a company who carries out approximately 100,000 analyses a year and is using a molecular detection method could save up to €400,000 a year by using the Pathatrix pooling method,Matrix claims.
"As the majority of companies find that 98 per cent of all routine food samples tested for pathogens are negative the new technique offers great opportunities for cost savings, increasedlaboratory efficiency and the ability to increase the number of samples tested with the current laboratory facilities," Matrix stated on its Internet site..
The Pathatrix method relies on the pooling of up to five 50ml sub-samples to create a single 250ml composite sample, which can be analysed by a range of detection technologies. The system is uniquein that it relies on what the company calls "post-enrichment pooling", the company claims.
The approach allows food testing laboratories to maintain full sample integrity and tractability during the pooling process. The method allows labs to keep track of which of the five samples testpositive. Other methods use pre-enrichment sample pooling so as to get a large enough amount of bacteria for detection by the kits.
Using pooling labs can screen out negative samples. If a positive result is obtained from a pooled sample then the original post enriched samples can be very quickly re-analysed to trace where thebacteria came from.
