AOAC-RI for New VIDAS® UP E. coli O157 (Including H7 Strain) Assay

bioMerieux now have AOAC-RI certification granted (No. 060903) to the VIDAS® UP E. coli O157 (Including H7) method for screening beef, selected produce and irrigation water.

Food manufacturers in the U.S. and many other countries rely on AOAC-RI certified testing methods to release their products on the market. The new solution is based on recombinant phage protein, the latest technology available for food pathogen screening, which offers unique specificity and sensitivity. E. coli O157:H7 is a potentially lethal strain of Escherichia coli that has caused many food outbreaks in the United States, Canada, Japan, and Europe.

VIDAS UP is the fastest method to detect E. coli O157 (including H7) in raw beef that has obtained both AFNOR Validation/ISO 16140 and AOAC-RI certifications. The method can deliver results in as little as 8 hours, where traditional methods can take up to 24 hours. It also has the flexibility of analyzing a broader range of sample sizes (up to 375 grams), allowing the food industry to more effectively manage their quality control process and improve their risk management.

'Our unique bacteriophage technology represents a new generation of tests for the VIDAS platform that delivers speed, added specificity and sensitivity,' said Alexandre Merieux, bioMerieux Corporate Vice President, Industrial Microbiology. 'E. coli O157:H7 is an increasing problem that greatly concerns us and we are pleased to have achieved AOAC-RI and AFNOR Validation/ISO 16140 approvals for a new solution that will help to protect consumers from food-borne illnesses.'

Bacteriophages are highly specific viruses that only infect bacteria. They use adhesion structures to bind to their bacterial hosts. In VIDAS UP, special binding proteins from bacteriophages are used for the first time for the targeted capture and detection of bacteria from a sample. This technology provides best-in-class sensitivity and specificity. Exclusively licensed to bioMerieux, the recombinant phage technology was developed by the German biotech company Hyglos GmbH. The new test is available on VIDAS®, the world's leading automated system for food-borne pathogen detection.