Fast, accurate results are critical for delivering safer food products for consumers and are more profitable growth for food companies. That’s why, at DuPont Qualicon, our food safety science is focused on continually developing state-of-the-art technologies that are faster and more accurate. In fact, for more than a decade, we have been revolutionizing food safety.

History of Leadership in Innovation
DuPont Qualicon was the first company to apply polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology to food testing. PCR is a fast and simple way to replicate DNA fragments from very minute amounts of source materials. Our use of automated PCR processing with tableted rather than liquid reagents created a dramatic increase in speed and consistency—helping to usher in a new era of easy-to-use testing methodology with more accurate results.

We were also the first to develop rapid, DNA-based assays for Salmonella, E. coli O157:H7 and Listeria monocytogenes. Our expertise in DNA testing also led to the first genetics-based assay for detecting yeast and mold in food within 48 hours—a significant improvement over traditional cultures that usually take up to five days to produce results.

Our unwavering focus on delivering increased speed and accuracy in food testing landed us on the R&D 100 Most Important Technological Developments list for two years in a row and helped DuPont win the 2005 Black Pearl award from the International Association for Food Protection.

Helping to Ensure Food Safety Around the World
Food companies around the world have made the BAX® system an integral part of their quality control systems due to its impact on their operations—from decreasing false positives and minimizing re-testing, to reducing the need for specialized training and speeding the time to market. Now, the next-generation system Q7, which features real-time PCR capabilities, is quickly becoming an industry favorite because it enables testing for multiple targets in a single sample, shorter processing times, five-dye detection and faster results.

This system has been adopted by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) for meat and poultry testing; adopted or certified by many international government testing agencies; and certified by independent authorities, such as the French Association of Normalization (AFNOR).

Recently, the Beijing Municipal Center for Food Safety Monitoring (BFSM) announced that the system is being used to conduct its food safety supervision tasks during the 2008 Olympic Games. DuPont Qualicon is sharing its expertise and providing technical support to ensure orderly food safety inspections in Beijing and to help build a food safety supervision system that will better serve the public with safer and healthier food.

Technology for Today’s Cutting-edge Solutions
While we’re proud to be a part of food safety history, we’re always looking ahead to provide the next cutting-edge solution. Consider our latest innovation—a system assay that uses advanced, reverse-transcriptase PCR to jump-start DNA-based reactions and deliver Listeria results within eight hours. This assay detects all species of Listeria, allowing environmental contamination issues to be addressed quickly.

We’ve also introduced a number of new assays to meet the evolving needs of the food industry for fast, accurate testing:

• A real-time PCR assay to detect Staphylococcus aureus in powdered infant formula, ground beef and soy protein. Traditional testing methods for S. aureus require three to five days or more for cultural growth and detection. With this assay, accurate results are available the next day.

• A real-time PCR assay that can detect and differentiate among three species of pathogenic Campylobacter in the same sample—and provide quantitative values for each.

• A PCR assay that detects yeast and mold in food at customizable thresholds set by the user. The standard protocol detects concentrations of 50 cfu/g or more within 48 hours, reducing product hold time by three days compared with traditional culture methods. Alternative protocols for ultra-sensitive detection of low concentrations are also available.

Advancing Food Safety
We’re relentless in our commitment to developing technology that can truly advance the science of food safety and make food safer for consumers around the world. Our dedicated team of experts is working diligently to create tomorrow’s food safety breakthroughs and is constantly seeking ways to improve and expand our offerings.

From sophisticated analytical platforms to soluble packets of enrichment media, DuPont Qualicon is a company you can trust to deliver the technology innovations you need to reduce risk, react to issues quickly and ultimately deliver the safest food possible to consumers. DuPont Qualicon technology can help you deliver results that matter.

www.qualicon.com