Applied Food Diagnostics, Inc., is pleased to announce a new qPCR diagnostic product line. AFD’s breakthrough Total QC-qPCR line of test kits simultaneously detects the target food pathogens along with the reporter-labeled quality control strain, tagged with Green Fluorescent Protein.

Many food pathogen laboratories currently use Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) tagged positive quality control strains. These GFP strains are processed concurrently with routine samples for process verification. This verification activity has been and will always continue to be a potential source of laboratory cross-contamination. When a positive occurs on a molecular screening assay, the normal procedure is to culture from the enrichment and wait an additional 24-72 hours to determine if the positive is the result of QC contamination by visual examination under UV light. This process is inherently problematic as different aliquots are utilized. The Total QC-qPCR line immediately distinguishes a quality control positive strain tagged with a Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) while identifying naturally occurring wild strain positives on the same aliquot during the initial rapid screening procedure.

The Total QC-qPCR line is valid for all major food pathogens including but not limited to; E. coli O157:H7, Shiga Toxin producing E. coli, Salmonella, Listeria spp., Listeria monocytogenes, Cronobacter sakazakii, and Vibrio Cholerae.

“The addition of the GFP target allows labs to save time, labor, and avoid unnecessary investigation costs. Food producers no longer need to wait an additional 2 to 3 days to know if there was laboratory error; Our food systems deserve better. The results from our Total QC-qPCR line provide a higher level of certainty than any other diagnostic on the market.” says Nathan Libbey, Vice President of Sales and Marketing.

Additional information can be found at www.appliedfooddiagnostics.com.