Food News

AGROLAB Ibérica (Tarragona) has validated and accredited under ISO 17.025 a method for the detection of salmonella that allows results to be reported withinin 24 hours^.

Salmonella is a micro-organism of major public health concern. It is an enterobacterium, i.e. a bacterium found in the intestines of humans and animals, which is one of the sources of contamination of food and water. It is the second most common micro-organism causing food poisoning in humans. Salmonellosis has a major health, social and economic impact and is of particular concern in at-risk groups such as the elderly, children and the sick.

Salmonella multiply in the body and cause an infection with nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhoea or fever, known as febrile gastroenteric syndrome, whose symptoms appear a few hours after ingestion and often require hospitalisation. Its incidence is particularly high in summer, when temperatures are high and its development is favoured. This has led to a very thorough control of this micro-organism, both at the level of the food industry and at the level of primary production. The sector and its operators need to obtain rapid and reliable results in order to make decisions with a high economic impact on their business.

AGROLAB Ibérica (Tarragona) has implemented and accredited the method for the detection of Salmonella spp. according to the 3M™ Molecular Detection Protocol (NF 3M 01/16-11/16) for a wide range of food, feed and environmental samples, in accordance with the requirements of the ISO 17025 standard. The method is based on a matrix-specific primary enrichment, followed by a lysis phase and subsequent loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) to rapidly amplify nucleic acid sequences with high specificity and sensitivity, combined with bioluminescence to detect amplification. Suspected positive results are reported in real time, while negative results are reported at the end of the assay.

This alternative method for the detection of Salmonella spp. allows screening of negative samples in just over 24 hours compared to the approximately 72 hours required by the ISO 6579 method, providing a very good option for the release of perishable food products.

YOUR PLUS: The AGROLAB GROUP offers the analysis of Salmonella and other microbiological organisms, accredited according to ISO 17.025, by different methods.

For further information, please contact your personal sales representative.

Author: Dr. Isabel Gómez (AGROLAB Iberica); Translation: Dr.Frank Mörsberger