AsianScientist (Jun. 23, 2011) – Veredus Laboratories, a company that makes diagnostic kits, announced today with its partner, STMicroelectronics, a new diagnostic kit that is able to detect 10 to 12 food-borne pathogens in one test.
VereFoodborne™, based on STMicroelectronics’ Lab-on-Chip platform, is a portable device that can detect and differentiate food-borne pathogens, including the Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli responsible for the recent severe food poisoning outbreak in Europe.
The chip uses a microarray that allows it to detect multiple pathogens in one test, and can accurately and sensitively detect pathogens within two hours, instead of days and weeks, the company says. This would speed up the testing of ingredients pre and post processing for both big and small food companies, says Veredus.
“VereFoodborne is already being deployed to several pilot users in Asia and we are anxious to have it protect consumers from food-borne pathogens,” said Dr. Rosemary Tan, CEO of Veredus Laboratories.
The company hopes that it may help health authorities and the food industry to carry out food safety surveillance as well as poisoning-outbreak investigations. A more rapid detection of food-borne pathogens may also lead to a faster containment of the infection. False positive detections may be reduced, and wrong ‘suspects’ in a poisoning outbreak investigation can be released from quarantine faster, avoiding unnecessary costs and spoilage of goods.
Veredus’ first Lab-on-Chip product was released in 2008 and focuses on the global threat of influenza, called VereFlu™. This was followed by the release of the VereThreat™ chip in early 2009, which allows for bio-surveillance for the first line of defense in places of need.
The company has received awards such as the Red Herring Asia 100, Red Herring Global 100, Asia Innovation Award (Gold), and BioSpectrum Editor’s Choice Emerging MedTech Company of Singapore.
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Source: STMicroelectronics.
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