Hygiene Monitoring System targets food industry.
Press Release Summary:
Designed to assess both cleanliness and sanitation in facilities, Lumitester®PD-10N/LuciPac(TM)W utilizes enzymatic recycling technology to enable detection of AMP and ATP. System sees residual biological materials other methods can miss when cleaning chemicals interfere with sample detection. In addition to food market, hygiene monitoring is conducted in personal care, beverage, and environmental industries.
Original Press Release:
Strategic Diagnostics Inc. Introduces New Hygiene Monitoring Test for Food and Food Prep Surfaces
Proprietary technology is an important new tool for improving cleaning and sanitation
programs in food service and manufacturing facilities
NEWARK, Del., July 24, 2007 - Strategic Diagnostics Inc. (NASDAQ: SDIX), a leading
provider of biotechnology-based detection solutions for a broad range of food, water, agricultural, environmental and life science applications, today announced the expansion of its product line to include hygiene monitoring, with the exclusive distribution of the Lumitester®PD-10N/LuciPac(TM)W system from Kikkoman in the U.S. marketplace.
The Lumitester®PD-10N/LuciPac(TM)W system is a unique patented platform with a proprietary
enzymatic recycling technology that enables detection of both AMP and ATP. It offers significant advantages over other hygiene monitoring systems on the market, which, due to the unstable nature of ATP, may not give a true indication of cleaning efficiencies. AMP is a stable, persistent molecule with the ability to give users a more precise, reproducible indication of the effectiveness of both cleaning and sanitation programs.
"Thorough cleaning of food preparation surfaces is the first line of defense against inadvertent contamination," commented Dr. Orla Cloak, SDI's Market Development Manager for Food Safety. "Leaving even small amounts of biological material on food preparation surfaces can harbor bacteria, increase the rate of bacterial growth and increase the amount of cleaning chemical required to remedy the situation. There is great return on investment from a superior hygiene testing product."
Strategic Diagnostics' Lumitester®PD-10N/LuciPac(TM)W system possesses several key advantages over competitive methods, including:
o SDI's test provides extremely accurate results even when only small amount of residual biological material is present. This allows the user to take action to produce cleaner surfaces at a lower cost when appropriate cleaning methods are applied. Clean surfaces stay cleaner longer, cost less to maintain, and reduce the risk of inadvertent pathogen contamination.
o The patented reagents are detergent tolerant, another distinguishable advantage over
competitive methods. The Lumitester®PD-10N/LuciPac(TM)W system sees residual biological
material competitive methods can miss when cleaning chemicals interfere with the sample
detection.
Matthew Knight, President and CEO of SDI, added, "The Lumitester®PD-10N/LuciPac(TM)W system further solidifies SDI's commitment to providing the food market with complete solutions for their testing needs. The system complements SDI's RapidChek® product line by further impacting our ability to enhance overall microbiological control and the performance of our customer's HACCP programs. As is the case with all SDI technologies, we are focused on providing a highly differentiated technical solution that delivers outstanding financial performance to the customer."
Rapid sanitation testing using ATP methods has grown in acceptance as a practical way to monitor the hygienic status of food production lines and food service surfaces, as well as to evaluate sanitation procedures. The Lumitester®PD-10N/LuciPac(TM)W system will add additional value by allowing users to better assess both cleanliness and sanitation in their facilities. In addition to the food market, hygiene monitoring is conducted in the personal care, beverage and environmental industries and it is estimated that about 12 million tests are currently conducted in the U.S. on an
annual basis with an average expected growth rate in testing of about 5% per year.
About Strategic Diagnostics Inc.
Strategic DiagnosticsInc. develops, manufactures and markets biotechnology-based detection solutions to a diverse customer base, across multiple industrial and human health markets. By applying its core competency of creating custom antibodies to assay development, the Company produces unique, sophisticated diagnostic testing and reagent systems that are responsive to customer diagnostic and information needs. Customers benefit with quantifiable "return on investment" by reducing time, labor, and/or material costs. All this is accomplished while increasing accuracy, reliability and actionability of essential test results. The Company is focused on sustaining
this competitive advantage by leveraging its expertise in immunology, proteomics, bio-luminescence and other bio-reactive technologies to continue its successful cus tomer-focused research and development efforts. Recent innovations in high throughput production of antibodies from genetic antigens will complement the Company's established leadership in commercial and custom antibody production for the Research, Human/Animal Diagnostics, and Pharmaceutical industries, and position the Company for broader participation in the pharmacogenomics market.
