Kits for Enumeration of Staphylococcus and Lactic Acid Bacteria added to TEMPO® Range

' With our expanded TEMPO menu, bioMerieux now covers all of the major quality indicators,'
stated Alexandre Merieux, bioMerieux Corporate Vice President, Industrial Microbiology. ' The automated TEMPO system meets the needs of our customers in the food industry with a cost-effective solution that is less time-consuming and labor-intensive than traditional methods.'

Growth of Staphylococcus aureus in food products is a public health risk since certain strains
produce enterotoxins, which if ingested can cause staphylococcal food poisoning.
The enumeration of Staphylococcus aureus in food samples is critical to monitoring product
quality throughout the manufacturing process, identifying risks and assessing the effectiveness of sanitation measures.

TEMPO STA delivers results within 24 hours instead of up to 48 hours for the ISO reference
methods and up to 4 days for the BAM method. No confirmation step is needed, contrary to
most of the other methods.

Some Lactic Acid Bacteria are used in the production of fermented foods such as yogurt.
However, certain species can cause spoilage and degrade the organoleptic quality of a product (its taste, color, texture and/or smell). Therefore, the level of Lactic Acid Bacteria in a product has an important role in determining its shelf life.

TEMPO LAB provides Lactic Acid Bacteria counts within 40-48 hours, compared to 3 days for
the reference methods, which also require time-consuming plating techniques.

The fully automated TEMPO system offers ease of use and fast turnaround time for accurate
and standardized results. TEMPO STA and TEMPO LAB complete the system's menu covering
most quality indicator testing needs: TEMPO TVC (Total Viable Count), TEMPO EC
(Escherichia coli), TEMPO TC (Total coliforms), TEMPO CC (Coliforms count) and TEMPO EB
(Enterobacteriaceae).

The TEMPO is based on the Most Probable Number (MPN) technique. Through automation, TEMPO takes the older, labor-intensive MPN method and standardizes numerous preparation steps, interpretation, and test results. The outcome is a fast, accurate method with more reliability than the original process.