Dutch biotechnology company Qiagen has announced that its mericon Salmonella spp. kit in combination with the QIAsymphony RGQ automation platform has received validation from the AOAC Research Institute.
AOAC Research Institute is an independent third party organization that evaluates analytical methods for use in food safety and other testing.
The mericon kit provides the necessary reagents for detection of Salmonella subspecies (or spp.). It runs on the QIAsymphony RGQ modular system, which automates entire workflows from food sample to the final result.
Qiagen noted that the institute validated the mericon kit on QIAsymphony RGQ, as well as manual use, for low- and high-throughput testing of eight different food sample types
Qiagen Life Sciences Business Area senior vice president Dietrich Hauffe said that as a result of the certification, food labs can evaluate more samples and improve efficiency by automating their Salmonella workflow.
"This certification marks an important milestone, as further key assays in our broad food testing assay portfolio are targeting certification and a growing number of labs are adopting the QIAsymphony RGQ platform," Hauffe added.
Salmonella is a common bacterium in nature that can cause serious illness when ingested in contaminated food, drink or water.