bioMérieux’s VIDAS® System Simplifies the Detection of Salmonella & E. coli O157 Including H7 Strains for the Meat Industry

bioMérieux, a world leader in the field of in vitro diagnostics, today announced that VIDAS® Salmonella Xpress (SLMX) and VIDAS® UP E. coli O157 (Including H7) kits have been validated by AFNOR Certification according to the ISO 16140 standard. These validations cover the testing of raw beef and veal.

VIDAS Salmonella Xpress (VIDAS SLMX) is a rapid method for the detection of Salmonella, delivering results in as little as 17 hours, where traditional methods can take up to 3 days. The method has been simplified with a single enrichment in buffer peptone water and just one pipeting step. A broad incubation time of 16 to 24 hours simplifies the laboratory workflow, enabling all samples to be processed as they arrive during the day.

AFNOR Certification was also given to VIDAS UP E. coli O157 (Including H7) for testing raw beef and veal. This innovative solution is based on recombinant phage protein, the latest technology for food pathogen screening, which offers unique specificity and sensitivity. With 8 hour turnaround time, VIDAS UP E. coli O157 (Including H7) is the fastest test on the market for the detection of this pathogen in raw beef.

“bioMérieux is pleased to receive international recognition for two new solutions that will help to protect consumers from food-borne illnesses,” said Alexandre Mérieux, bioMérieux Corporate Vice President, Industrial Microbiology. “VIDAS UP E. coli (Including H7) and VIDAS SLMX are making the detection of major pathogens more rapid and simple for our customers in the meat Industry.”

About Salmonella: Salmonella is the leading cause of food-borne bacterial diseases in many countries. Salmonella spp includes more than 2500 serovars; all of which are potentially pathogenic to humans.

About E. coli O157:H7: E. coli O157:H7 is a potentially lethal strain of Escherichia coli that has caused many outbreaks of food-borne illness in the United States, Canada, Japan, and Europe.

About Bacteriophages: Bacteriophages are highly specific viruses that only infect bacteria. They use adhesion structures to bind to their bacterial hosts. In VIDAS UP, special binding proteins from bacteriophages are used for the first time for the targeted capture and detection of bacteria from a sample. This technology provides best-in-class sensitivity and specificity. Exclusively licensed to bioMérieux, the recombinant phage technology was developed by the German biotech company Hyglos GmbH.

About VIDAS®
VIDAS® is the world’s leading automated system for food-borne pathogen detection with tests for Escherichia coli O157 (Including H7), Salmonella, Listeria spp., Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus enterotoxins and Campylobacter. VIDAS® and its compact version, mini VIDAS®, are multiparametric systems using ELFA (Enzyme Linked Fluorescent Assay) technology, and based on a ready-to-use single-sample test concept.