Examples from the Real World

ABC gets the 1,2,3 of Detection

Mary Lee, vice president of microbiology for ABC Research Corp., a Gainesville, Fla.-based laboratory service group, works with food companies and aims at three primary criteria: Providing the best method at a low cost and meeting performance standards and regulatory requirements as well as the customer’s turn-around time. Lee has a wide selection of Listeria testing solutions on hand at the ISO 17025 accredited lab to choose from, including cultural plating methods, PCR, ELISA, and rapid test assays. “[The] system fits in very well with a high-volume laboratory,” she says. “A single-step enrichment, lower labor requirements, and easy to read results have reduced our overtime costs and improved laboratory efficiencies. In fact, we’ve been able to reduce our staffing by the equivalent of 1.5 full-time employees as a result of using the test,” she says. “At the same time, the quality of the result we are providing to our clients has improved. In our hands, the false positive rate.is less than 0.2 percent based on cultural confirmations. This is much less than what we typically see with other methods in our laboratory.” As USDA regulations are changed and implemented, Lee has seen the food industry become more informed about testing requirements and, as a result, more requests for Listeria testing. Demand for safer food supplies and the regulatory pressures that follow will continue to grow in the future. With careful planning and evaluation, companies can find the Listeria testing solution that satisfies the public, protects their brands and is easy on the bottom line. -FQ

A.J. McCardell, food safety business unit director for Strategic Diagnostics. Reach her at 302-456-6789 or [email protected].