The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has chosen bioMérieux innovation GENE-UP QUANT as its method of choice for salmonella enumeration in USDA food safety inspection service labs.

In a company press release, bioMérieux, a developer of in vitro diagnostics, said it was pleased with the selection.

“The adoption of GENE-UP QUANT Salmonella is a testament to the way we innovate at bioMérieux,” said Adam Joelsson, director of technology at bioMérieux. “By listening to what our customers really needed, we developed a test that delivers true quantification results in less than four hours across matrices, removing incubation and growth biases typically encountered with other methods.”

Despite the many salmonella interventions over the last 20 years, the incidence of salmonella infections in humans has stayed flat, and in recent years has even risen slightly. Historically, the agricultural industry salmonella prevalence testing uses a percentage-based approach focusing on safety of the final product.

Introduced earlier this year, GENE-UP QUANT Salmonella is a new testing methodology that provides more information in less time at various touch points from flock-to-fork to reduce antimicrobial use, cost, and waste. It is the first, and only, association of official analytical collaboration (AOAC) internationally approved true non-enrichment quantification diagnostic for salmonella. The exact quantification and fast turnaround time of the new test allows poultry producers to evaluate and improve operational processes and mitigation measures.

“The USDA is taking important steps to improve public health and safety in an effort to reduce salmonella prevalence,” added Miguel Villa, senior vice president of Industry Americas at bioMérieux. “This is directly aligned with the bioMérieux mission to improve public health worldwide, and we are proud of the scientists behind this tremendous innovation.”