Next-day Listeria Results with rapid Assays

Oxoid now enables food microbiologists in Europe, Australia and Canada to obtain next-day Listeria results with the rapid DuPont Qualicon BAX® System Listeria monocytogenes 24E and BAX System Genus Listeria 24E assays. The speed of these assays enables food manufacturers to obtain a ‘yes or no’ answer before products are released from the factory. A recent outbreak of Listeriosis in Austria and Germany affected 14 people, four of whom died. When Listeria is discovered in a food or environmental sample after a product leaves the factory, this can lead to costly product recalls and damage the reputation of the company.

There are now several methods for Listeria and L. monocytogenes that have been certified in accordance with the EC 2073 regulation requirements, giving producers and manufacturers access to simpler, faster alternative methods. However, many of these require two-stage enrichment procedures and/or different protocols for different food types. Some even exclude specific food groups, such as dairy products, from the method completely.

The BAX® System Listeria 24E assays require a single 24-hour enrichment step and have a common extraction protocol for all food types. With a performance comparable to conventional culture methods, these rapid PCR assays detect even low levels of Listeria and have been validated by AFNOR (QUA 18/06-07/08) for all human food products and environmental samples.

Samples are incubated in Oxoid 24 Listeria Enrichment Broth for 24 hours prior to a simple extraction protocol that requires no centrifugation steps. This is followed by analysis and automatic interpretation on the BAX® System.