Eurofins' new system to assist shelf life and product deterioration assessment
Eurofins Food Testing UK has made significant investment in a new state of the art method for micro-organism identification, which, due to its ease of use, will enable clients to have same-day confirmation of results for pathogens.
Using MALDI-TOF (Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization-Time of Flight) Mass Spectrometry, the MALDI Biotyper, can identify bacteria, yeast and mould as well as groups of organisms such as multi-cellular fungi, which are usually difficult to analyse due to cultural conditions.
"MALDI-TOF helps us to identify organisms associated with food safety and spoilage by virtue of their unique molecular fingerprint. MALDI will speed up the process of notification of the outcome of presumptive results thereby reducing the level of wasted time and effort due to false positives. We are aiming to have accreditation to ISO17025 early in 2016."
"It can also be used to identify unknown organisms that have not been originally targeted by cultural tests and this may be of use to identify, and to provide direction for investigations of any issues relating to product spoilage and shelf life", explains Keith Watkins, Microbiology Specialist at Eurofins.
Published: 19 November 2015