Applied Biosystems TaqMan ® is a new Salmonella Enteritidis detection kit used on eggs that is now also able to take environmental samples at production houses involved in handling and packaging.

The kit previously received an “interim” approval for environmental sampling from the National Poultry Improvement Plan (NPIP), the unit of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that governs safety standards at poultry houses .   

Life Technologies Corporation, the NASDAQ traded company that makes the kit, will now be able to use the method to test for SE in both eggs and poultry houses. 

 

Henhousebody.jpg

An “interim” approval is given when the NPIP’s Technical Committee votes affirmatively outside the organization’s annual conference.   Because of the length of time between conferences, the Technical Committee meets once or twice a year to review submissions.

Life Technologies will be presenting its validation studies to the full Technical Committee in New Orleans in September when NPIP permanent approval is expected.

The kit is the only polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based tool now available to quickly and accurately determine the presence or absence of SE in drag swab samples taken from production lines by directly zeroing in on the pathogen’s DNA.  

The kit returns results in 27 hours, rather than the 72 hours required for conventional, culture-based methods of detection.   It also accurately differentiates SE from other serogroups of D1 Salmonella – the category to which SE belongs.

Since July 2010, all large scale egg producers in the U.S. have been required to test for SE.  Life Technologies offered its new kit test to the market in January 2011. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found that it was equivalent in accuracy, precision, and sensitivity to current standard methods outlined in the agency’s 2007 edition of the Bacteriological Analytical Manuel. (BAM).

“Acceptance of our detection kit for Salmonella Enteritidis by the FDA and the NPIP is in line with our strategic goal to provide the most accurate of reliable molecular tools, and to continue growing our business in this sector,” says Nir Nimrodi, Vice President and General Manager of Animal Health and Food Safety at Life Technologies.

“In addition to providing a valuable testing method with dual uses, the kit can help producers easily conform to federal regulations,” he said.

A biotechnology company,  Life Technologies had sales of $3.7 billion in 160 countries last year. It holds 4,000 patents and licenses and 50,000 research products.