Marcy l’Etoile, France - January 15, 2009. bioMérieux, a world leader in the field of in vitro diagnostics, is enhancing its TEMPO® line for food quality with the launch of one of the most rapid automated solutions for direct enumeration of yeast and mold. TEMPO YM delivers final results in half the time versus most other methods, including the ISO reference method (ISO 21527).
A major challenge for the food industry, yeast and mold can cause the spoilage of any type of food product, affecting its organoleptic and commercial quality (taste, smell, visual aspect). Some types of mold, such as Aspergillus, may also produce toxins that have an adverse effect on humans.
“With TEMPO YM, bioMérieux is now the first and only to offer the agri-food industry a complete automated menu of routine tests for monitoring food hygiene,” stated Alexandre Mérieux, bioMérieux Corporate Vice President, Industrial Microbiology. “The automated system contributes to faster food product releases, saving analysis time and delivering standardized results.”
The agri-food industry routinely enumerates microbial flora, which indicates the microbiological load in the entire production process, from raw materials to finished products. These quality indicators are of major importance in establishing a HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) approach and guaranteeing the commercial value of food products from the time they leave the factory to their expiry date. Quality indicators routinely enumerated usually are: total count, total coliforms, Enterobacteriaceae, E. coli, S. aureus, yeast and molds. Lactic Acid Bacteria is also routinely tested on certain food products. TEMPO provides testing capabilities for all of these quality indicators.
The fully automated TEMPO system offers ease of use and fast turnaround time for accurate and standardized results, as well as easier stock management compared to traditional methods. Most of the TEMPO tests are internationally approved by official organizations such as AOAC INTERNATIONAL (Formerly the Association of Official Analytical Chemists) and AFNOR CERTIFICATION according to ISO 16140 international rules. TEMPO TVC, for Total Viable Count testing, recently received Official Method Approval (OMASM) from the globally recognized AOAC INTERNATIONAL.
About TEMPO®
TEMPO automates testing for quality indicator organisms. The technology behind TEMPO is based on an established microbiological method, called Most Probable Number (MPN). Through automation, TEMPO takes the older, labor-intensive MPN method and standardizes numerous preparation steps, interpretation, and test results. The outcome is a fast, accurate method with more reliability than the original process.
The TEMPO system’s menu covers a broad range of quality indicator testing needs: TEMPO TVC (Total Viable Count, AOAC OMA approved since October 2008), TEMPO EC (Escherichia coli), TEMPO TC (Total Coliforms), TEMPO CC (Coliforms Count), TEMPO STA (Staphylococcus), TEMPO EB (Enterobacteriaceae), TEMPO YM (Yeast & Mold) and TEMPO LAB (Lactic Acid Bacteria).
About bioMérieux
Advancing Diagnostics to Improve Public Health
A world leader in the field of in vitro diagnostics for 45 years, bioMérieux is present in more than 150 countries through 39 subsidiaries and a large network of distributors. In 2007, revenues reached €1.063 billion with 84% of sales outside of France.
bioMérieux provides diagnostic solutions (reagents, instruments, software) which determine the source of disease and contamination to improve patient health and ensure consumer safety. Its products are used for diagnosing infectious diseases and providing high medical value results for cardiovascular emergencies and cancer screening and monitoring. They are also used for detecting microorganisms in agri-food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic products. bioMérieux is listed on the NYSE Euronext Paris market (Code: BIM – Code ISIN: FR0010096479). Other information can be found at www.biomerieux.com.
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