Bruker said the Official Methods of Analysis (OMA) approval is for Salmonella spp, Cronobacter spp. and other gram-negative organisms by MALDI Biotyper (MBT) method.
The other backing is for Listeria monocytogenes, Listeria spp. and other gram-positive organisms by MBT (spp means all species of the genus).
Confirmation and identification can be done from several selective culture media used in food microbiology or any non-selective culture plates.
Validation studies by Q Labs
Erin Crowley, CSO at Q Laboratories, said it served as the expert lab on the two OMA validation studies.
“The success of these projects was supported by the easy workflow of the MALDI Biotyper. We have implemented the MALDI Biotyper in our facilities since 18 months already. It is truly an innovation and its OMA approval is a significant step to provide our customers with rapid and accurate identification and confirmatory options needed to make critical decisions.”
The MALDI Biotyper is available for authorities, industry and other food and feed testing facilities. It can accelerate turn-around time for producers until production steps are monitored and lots can be released.
Traditional biochemical techniques detect different metabolic properties of microorganisms but can take hours or days and often lack specificity.
The MALDI Biotyper family of systems enables molecular identification of microorganisms like bacteria, yeasts and fungi. Classification and identification is achieved using proteomic fingerprinting by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry.
Access to regulated food microbiology markets
Dr Daniele Sohier, business development manager for industrial microbiology at Bruker Daltonics, added the MALDI Biotyper is already used in clinical microbiology.
“We were able to get these two OMA claims in only six months, corroborating the reliability and robustness of the MALDI Biotyper for fast and accurate confirmation of many foodborne pathogens and for the identification of other bacteria.
“With the AOAC International approvals for two OMAs, we now also have access to regulated food microbiology markets, which represents a further significant market expansion for the MALDI Biotyper."
The benchtop MALDI Biotyper system is also available as an MBT smart version with a proprietary smartbeam laser that accelerates the speed of analysis and decreases time-to-result.
MALDI Biotyper workflow can be supported with the MBT Pilot for optically guided sample preparation on the MBT target plates and the MBT Galaxy for automated matrix deposition during sample preparation.