Method Enables Food Producers to Rapidly Identify and Mitigate Recurring Listeria in Facilities
ITHACA, N.Y. — Rheonix Inc., a manufacturer of microfluidic workstations and assays for molecular testing, will exhibit and share data at the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) 2023 Annual Meeting in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, July 16-19. The IAFP Annual Meeting is the preeminent food safety conference focused on current and emerging food safety issues. Rheonix will showcase a case study reflecting real-world customer experience using the Listeria PatternAlert Assay. The case study was developed in collaboration with Eurofins Microbiology Laboratories, a provider of Listeria PatternAlert testing. Using PatternAlert data, Eurofins worked with its client, a leading national supplier of prepared foods, to quickly identify and eliminate a source of recurring Listeria in the customer’s facility.
“Our client was unable to find the source of contamination using presence/absence testing alone,” said Megan Murn, Business Unit Manager of the Mounds View Eurofins Microbiology Laboratories. “By combining Listeria PatternAlert results with their operational data, we were able to quickly pinpoint the source.”
The Listeria PatternAlert assay is a fully automated molecular test that alerts food producers to recurring Listeria contamination and aids rapid identification of Listeria harborage sites in their facilities. The assay works by identifying molecular patterns from Listeria strains directly from enriched samples or isolates. Using the Listeria PatternAlert software tools, food producers can quickly track recurring patterns across locations and time. Listeria PatternAlert results are available at roughly half the cost and time of alternative subtyping methods, enabling food customers to take rapid action to reduce the risk of contamination and recall. Listeria PatternAlert testing follows routine presence absence/screening and can be performed in-house or by a third-party testing laboratory. Eurofins began partnering with Rheonix to offer Listeria PatternAlert testing to its customers in April 2023.
“Clients who have started using Rheonix Listeria PatternAlert testing are finding incredible value in the data,” said Murn. “This change in their environmental monitoring programs can result in faster mitigation of persistent Listeria.”
To discuss the case study, and learn more about the Listeria PatternAlert method and Rheonix’s suite of fully automated, highly multiplexed solutions for food pathogen and spoilage detection, visit the Rheonix team at IAFP 2023 – Booth 438, Metro Toronto Convention Centre – South Building Exhibit Hall, or contact Rheonix. To learn more about working with a Eurofins laboratory and the expertise and services they offer, visit Eurofins Laboratories at IAFP 2023 – Booth 246, or contact Eurofins.
About Rheonix Inc.:
The Rheonix Encompass workstations enable highly multiplexed sample-to-answer molecular testing for use in clinical, research and applied testing laboratories. Rheonix’s applied testing solutions include the Listeria PatternAlert Assay, a rapid method for Listeria strain typing, and the Beer SpoilerAlert Assay, the most comprehensive beer spoilage panel available. Rheonix recently announced development of a fully automated assay for the detection of Cyclospora cayetanensis in collaboration with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. For more information, visit rheonix.com.
About Eurofins – the global leader in food testing:
Eurofins is Testing for Life. We are proud to expand our services and continue growing to meet the needs of our clients. Eurofins is the global leader in food, environment, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic product testing, and in discovery pharmacology, forensics, advanced material sciences, and agro science contract research services.
