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Bio-Rad Wins USDA Food Safety Testing Contract

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) — Bio-Rad said today that it has received a US Department of Agriculture contract for its iQ-Check RT-PCR pathogen detection test kits and related iQ-Check sample prep automation system.

The food safety testing kits use DNA probes to detect pathogens including Salmonella spp., Listeria monocytogenes, Campylobacter, Escherichia coli O157:H7, and Shiga toxin-producing E. coli. The iQ-Check prep system is a robotic liquid handling platform for performing DNA extraction and PCR plate set-up.

According to Hercules, California-based Bio-Rad, the USDA contract was awarded by the agency's Food Safety and Inspection Service. Specific terms were not disclosed.

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