Recombinase Polymerase Amplification (RPA) has the potential to transform food testing and safety. Often nucleic acid testing requires sample clean up to remove inhibitors released during preparation of the sample for analysis. RPA, has been shown to require minimal clean up (sometimes none) post DNA/RNA extraction, thereby simplifying the workflow for testing. Furthermore, RPA operates at a constant low temperature, takes less than 10 minutes to produce a result, and achieves the same sensitivity and specificity as polymerase chain reaction (PCR).
As such, in the laboratory, RPA can enable rapid and highly accurate testing of samples. Additionally, RPA has the potential to provide immediate results at the point-of-need, through a hand-held device, by on-site operators without expert knowledge of sample testing.