Romer Labs have announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of the food safety and GMO businesses of Strategic Diagnostics Inc.. The deal accelerates Romer Labs' move into food pathogen detection and augments its product and service range, making it a complete supplier for food safety solutions.

SDIX Food Safety Business includes RapidChek® lateral flow test strips with proprietary enrichment media, the patented RapidChek® SELECT phage-based enrichment systems and RapidChek® CONFIRM immunomagnetic confirmation tools. These products are approved for the detection of pathogens such as Salmonella, Listeria and E. Coli in a variety of food, feed and environmental samples.

"The RapidChek® product family is a strong brand for food pathogen detection and has proven to be an accurate and reliable rapid test for the food industry worldwide. We are proud to integrate this renowned brand into our portfolio and are fully committed to expanding our range for food pathogen analysis in the future. The technology we are acquiring is solid and approved and has also been successfully performance tested by AOAC on various occasions." says Michael Prinster, CEO of Romer Labs North America.

The acquisition also includes the GMO test kit business, in which SDIX already had an exclusive distribution partnership with Romer Labs. This was a logical consequence of a successful cooperation between the two companies, which had already been established in 2010. Transferring the GMO business to Romer Labs gives the customers more security that they can rely on a trustworthy partner that now also develops and manufactures the products.

Romer Labs' international presence with locations in seven countries all over the globe, including fast growing markets such as China and Brazil, gives global customers great advantages, as the group is able to provide high quality products and technical support worldwide. Its international distribution network with partners in more than 80 countries makes sure the products can be supplied to every corner of the world.

Romer Labs will take over all the staff members of the SDIX food safety and GMO division, including those in R&D, sales & marketing and production. It will continue to run the business out of Newark, Delaware. "The people of the SDIX food safety team are experts in their field and were responsible for SDIX's success in recent years. We are happy to welcome them into our team and look forward to working together on growing this business." concludes Hannes Binder, CEO of the Romer Labs Group.