Spectacular Labs Inc. and the Canadian Center for Meat Innovation and Technology (CMIT) have joined forces to improve foodborne pathogen testing. As part of the early access agreement, meat and poultry producers across Canada will be able to use the Spectacular OneTouch platform to validate assay performance and demonstrate its intuitive workflow in meat and poultry applications. The Spectacular platform was designed for rapid, onsite testing to help prevent potential foodborne illness outbreaks, alleviate critical supply chain bottlenecks, and shorten food production timelines.

Spectacular Labs’ new OneTouch benchtop platform requires only one minute of operator hands-on time. It is now being used by a growing number of early access collaborators to detect pathogenic bacteria such as Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes, Escherichia coli, and Campylobacter.

CMIT was established by Meat and Poultry Ontario to help processors collaborate, find, and adopt new technologies, and to make it easier for their employees to learn and advance their skills. CMIT will deploy the Spectacular OneTouch platform in the University of Guelph’s federally licensed processing facility. Meat processors will be able to access the platform to accelerate turnaround times, self-serve third-party certification of analysis, and reduce overall testing costs.

In the future, Spectacular Labs and CMIT plan to expand their partnership to further advance pathogen testing technologies, as well as to enhance industrywide food safety protocols in the interest of minimizing waste, securing supply chains, fortifying traceability, and reducing the cost of food for consumers.