This article has been updated to correct the acquisition amount.
NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – BioMérieux announced today that it has acquired US-based food testing firm Invisible Sentinel for approximately $75 million to strengthen its position in food pathogen testing and spoilage organism detection.
Invisible Sentinel said that its Veriflow DNA signature capturing technology combines simple workflows with rapid results, accuracy, and specificity, and does not require sophisticated lab infrastructure. The company targets a variety of segments in the food and beverage industry, including the beer, wine, poultry, and juices sectors.
"This acquisition illustrates BioMérieux's commitment to bring innovative solutions to customers of all sizes to ensure food and beverage quality and contribute to protecting consumer's health," Nicolas Cartier, BioMérieux Executive VP of Industrial Microbiology, said in a statement.
BioMérieux said that it will now offer alternatives to deliver accurate results for rare pathogen testing in a variety of food. The firm will adapt Invisible Sentinel's assays on the molecular food testing Gene-Up system, making them available to customers processing high daily volumes of samples.
"[BioMérieux's] global commercial network and leadership in the food microbiology market will allow our products to reach even more customers worldwide while also empowering us to provide additional technologies and resources to our US client base," Invisible Sentinel CEO and Cofounder Nicholas Siciliano said in a statement. "Ultimately, this partnership will greatly enhance our ability to develop new products, introduce our technologies to new markets, and to better serve our existing customers in the food and beverage industry."