Bringing an added level of confidence to the robust science that its assay offers, the bioMérieux, Inc. GENE-UP® NUTRAPLEX PRO™ multiplex pathogen detection assay has achieved the AOAC® Research Institute Performance Tested Methods^SM approval (PTM 082103). AOAC validation demonstrated statistical equivalence to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP) reference methods for the detection of USP pathogens in comparative studies with a variety of nutraceutical matrices including nutrients, herbals, and dietary supplements. GENE-UP NUTRAPLEX PRO is the first-ever method to be validated as a multiplex pathogen screen and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) culture confirmation method for USP pathogens in nutraceuticals.   

A real-time PCR solution for pathogen detection, GENE-UP NUTRAPLEX PRO simultaneously detects Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp. and Staphylococcus aureus from a single universal enrichment in just 24 hours. 

GENE-UP NUTRAPLEX PRO provides three key areas of value: 

• Confident results backed with AOAC approval demonstrating FDA and USP reference method equivalence.
• Polymerase chain reaction-based confirmation method equivalent to traditional culture confirmation.
• Operational efficiency and user simplicity, resulting in significant time and resource savings.

“The AOAC approval of GENE-UP NUTRAPLEX PRO is a significant milestone in our ability to serve the nutraceutical industry,” said Ron Johnson, senior scientific affairs advisor at bioMérieux, Inc. and former president of the AOAC. “Providing validation against two globally recognized reference methods allows our customers—and the nutraceutical market-at-large—to maximize efficiency and flexibility without sacrificing data integrity and confidence in microbiological results.”