3M's Food Safety division this week introduced the 3M Molecular Detection System for detecting dangerous food pathogens such as Salmonella, E. coli O157, and Listeria.
The benchtop 3M Molecular Detection System is based on a combination of technologies including isothermal DNA amplification and bioluminescence detection. The system delivers highly sensitive results by targeting and amplifying nucleic acid in enriched samples, and has been evaluated with a variety of food types, including produce, meats, processed foods, pet food, and food processing-related environmental samples, 3M said.
3M will initially sell individual, pathogen-specific assays as test kits. Each test kit uses the same software interface and DNA-extraction protocol for testing between one and 96 samples per run. Assays for Salmonella, E. coli O157 (including H7) and Listeria are available immediately; and the company plans to market a test for Listeria monocytogenes in early 2012.
Bioline, a subsidiary of Meridian Bioscience, has released its DNA Extraction Control and RNA Extraction Control products.
The DEC and REC provide information about the efficiency of nucleic acid extraction and PCR inhibition in real-time PCR assays, Bioline said.
The products have been tested across a wide range of sample types, including blood, sputum, saliva, and cerebrospinal fluid. Bioline's proprietary control target closely mimics common starting samples in complexity and will provide users with real-time feedback on the efficiency of the extraction and amplification processes in their assays. Both the DEC and REC are designed to multiplex easily into existing assays, and the control sequence has been designed to have minimal interference with target sequences, the company said.