ATP Bioluminescence Moves Mainstream

A major trend driving systems like CellScan is consolidation in the dairy industry over the last decade or so. “Now big companies distribute to wider areas, and, therefore, need to increase the shelf life,” explained Scott Scdoris, beverage segment manager at Celsis. The packaging is also different, including cartons containing ultra-heat-treated products that are expected to be sterile. Such products could last up to a year, compared to days or a week with refrigerated products. The Celsis ATP system uses a 96-well microplate to test for contamination. It takes about 24 minutes for the entire test.

The company has a second product that uses the adenylate kinase (AK) enzyme to amplify any ATP that is present. It provides results in 18 to 24 hours and is used to test tea products and some sport drinks. Scdoris said Celsis had the first commercial application for finished product testing using ATP. It absorbed Lumac, a pioneering company in the field. Now, he said, Celsis can test any type of food product that can be put into a liquid phase.

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A screen shot showing the data captured by Neogen’s AccuPoint Sanitation Monitoring System.

Data for Managers

Celsis and its competitors—both in surface testing and in final product testing—also include software in their products that, in many cases, can be linked to databases to help production managers make decisions and even save money. Celsis says a rapid test system in the dairy industry could save $500,000 over five years.

The Celsis system, for example, has an integrated database that can give sample identification information, identify the product’s production line, and run queries or reports. “This is becoming a big thing in production, with the USDA and FDA taking a much more aggressive stance, requiring manufacturers to be able to access information from individual lots,” Scdoris said.

Meikel Brewster, vice president of sales at Charm Sciences Inc. in Lawrence, Mass., which markets the NovaLUM sanitation control system and PocketSwab Plus, takes it a step further than Scdoris. She points to auditing entities such as the Global Food Safety Initiative as drivers of the technology’s adoption. “With ATP we saw a need—that these auditing entities were looking for sanitation verification,” she said.

As evidence, she pointed to a recent news release from Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which referenced its food safety program achieving “prevention-based certification” against one of the Global Food Safety Initiative’s internationally recognized standards.

“At Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club, our commitment to providing our customers with safe, quality foods is unparalleled,” vice president for Food Safety Frank Yiannas said in the April announcement. “As part of our continuous improvement efforts, we go further than many U.S. retailers in requiring leading-edge food safety standards throughout the entire food production chain.”

Pressure for such testing is also coming from outside companies, said Brewster. “Many food manufacturers are being impacted by their customer requests for audits to be performed. … These audits contain a section for pre-operational inspection. ATP can be used for sanitation pre-operational inspection as well as traditional microbiological testing.” She added that food manufacturing plants are increasing microbiological surveillance on non-food contact/environmental sites. While ATP swabs typically have only been used on food product contact surfaces, she pointed to a trend for customers to use the company’s PocketSwab Plus as a tool in environmental areas.

Looking ahead, companies are moving to improve software features for tracking results and spotting trends. This will tell managers more about what is going on with their production lines so that they can make the critical decisions needed to maintain cleanliness standards and get products out on time. In end product testing, Charm will be releasing a new version of its EPIC microplate luminescence system that can incubate in 36 hours instead of 48 hours.