News

FoodChek Laboratories Inc. Announces Scientific Vice President Appointments

FoodChek Systems Inc. Enters into a Global Supply Agreement with Hygiena, LLC to Distribute the Patented Actero^™ Elite Enrichment Media

FoodChek Laboratories Inc. Achieves ISO 9001:2015

This article was published in the December 2016/January 2017 edition of Food Quality & Safety magazine.

The U.S. FDA is now exercising its judicial powers to bring federal criminal charges against food processors/manufacturers, their management and employees for food safety violations and non-compliance under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). There are significant technology advancements in pathogen detection and testing that greatly enhance the ability of food processors/manufacturers to reduce the “time-to-results” without compromising accuracy, have higher throughput and maximize operational efficiencies, and obtain test results within a production shift while improving the efficiency and efficacy of the their sanitization program. Combining superior enrichment media and testing systems is a critical first line of defense in protecting a company’s brand, its management and employees, and most importantly, its consumers.

On-Demand Webinar  (This webinar is no longer available for viewing.)

Play FDA for a Day

Criminalization of Foodborne Illness

What you can do to protect your company

Roka Bioscience, LLC (Roka) presented Shawn K. Stevens, Food Safety lawyer and expert  of Food Industry Counsel, and Mary Duseau, Senior Vice President, Chief Commercial Officer of Roka, in a webcast providing a roadmap to help food companies navigate the new regulatory, legal and technological environment in food safety. They demonstrated how playing “FDA for a Day” with your own Self-Audit, under the protection of attorney-client privilege and with Better Testing Technology, will prepare food companies for the now launched U.S. FDA “swab-a-thons” and prevent potential criminal action against your company.

The FDA for a Day Program consists of:

1. Roka providing all food companies with a complimentary swab kit containing swabs and FoodChek’s Actero^TMListeria Enrichment Media for environmental sample enrichment.
2. Roka providing complimentary Listeria testing of the enriched swabs on their Atlas^® System using advanced molecular technology.
3. Food Safety lawyer and expert, Shawn Stevens, providing food companies with a complimentary and attorney-client privilege assessment of Listeria contamination in their facilities along with a remedial action plan.

As a food company – protect your consumers, your brand and company from harm and view this essential webinar today!

Poster Presentation at the 2016 IAFP Annual Meeting in St. Louis, Missouri held July 31 to August 3, 2016

Introduction:  The ability of L. monocytogenes to proliferate in various foods at refrigeration temperatures and survive even after deep freezing makes the occurrence of this foodborne pathogen in ready-to-eat (RTE) foods of particular concern. It is especially threatening to the deli meat and dairy industries if fast and reliable detection methods are not applied. Since L. monocytogenes in RTE food can be present at low concentration with sub-lethal injury during food processing, an enrichment step is crucial to resuscitate injured cells and allow sufficient growth for detection.

Objective:  This study was to validate a sensitive and rapid method for L. monocytogenes detection in deli meat and dairy products.

Presenting Authors:

FoodChek Laboratories:  Dr. Sergiy Olishevskyy, Cathy St-Laruent, Melissa Buzinhani, Michael Giuffre

DuPont Nutrition & Health:  Morgan Wallace

Poster Presentation at the 2016 IFT Annual Meeting & Food Expo in Chicago, Illinois held July 16 to 19, 2016

Introduction:  Despite control and prevention efforts, Salmonella infections arising from contaminated meat and poultry continue to be a significant problem, with millions of cases occurring each year. Conventional methods for the detection of Salmonella can require up to seven days for a positive result and are not appropriate for routine testing of large numbers of samples. Thus, the development and implementation of rapid detection methods of Salmonella are among the most important food safety tasks.

Objective:  This study was to develop a sensitive and rapid method for Salmonella detection in meat and poultry, including raw ground beef, raw ground chicken and chicken carcass rinses. This study included validation of a new protocol based on single-step enrichment with Actero™ Salmonella Enrichment Media followed by detection using the DuPont™ BAX® System Real-Time PCR Assay for Salmonella.

Presenting Authors:

FoodChek Laboratories:  Dr. Sergiy Olishevskyy, Cathy St-Laurent, Melissa Buzinhani, Michael Giuffre

Dupont Nutrition & Health:  Morgan Wallace

Distributed at the Pet Food Forum held in Kansas City, Missouri, USA from April 18 to 20, 2016

FoodChek’s Senior Product Manager, David Claveau, M.Sc, MBA, is a guest presenter on a complimentary webinar hosted by Roka Bioscience. David is speaking on how faster recovery of stressed Listeria can change the way you do business – Media Advancement.

When:  Wednesday, April 6th, 2016

Time:    2:00 to 3:00 pm ET, 11:00 am to 12pm PT

This webinar is no longer available for viewing.

FoodChek™ Actero™ Listeria Enrichment Media, followed by rapid real-time processing with the DuPont™ BAX® System, was approved by AOAC-RI to allow a singlestage, 20-26 hour enrichment (sample-dependent). This method can return Listeria results in just 22 hours for some matrices, one of the fastest time-to-results available for the pathogen in the food safety industry today.

New Independent Director, Jonathan Legg, elected to the FoodChek Board of Directors – March 19, 2015

DuPont^™ BAX^® RT-PCR System Certified by AOAC for Real-Time Listeria monocytogenes Detection – February 9, 2015

FoodChek featured in “FOOD-SAFETY fast track” in the April 2014 issue of Meat & Poultry magazine.

“FOODCHEK-TESTED” Launches in the U.S. Marketplace – February 24, 2014

FoodChek™ featured in “Food-safety savvy” of the April issue of Meat&Poultry.

FoodChek^™ Awarded VWR’s 2012 Best New Innovative Product 2012 – February 15, 2013

FoodChek^™ Receives PTM CERTIFICATION for Listeria spp. Assay Cassette and Actero^™ Listeria Enrichment Media – November 30, 2012

FoodChek^™ featured in MEAT&POULTRY – THE NEED FOR SPEED ARTICLE – SEPTEMBER ISSUE PLUS AD

FoodChek^™ Acquires Sabre Scientific’s VWR Exclusive Agreements – July 20, 2011

FoodChek^™ Receives AOAC Carcass Sponge Modification Approval for E. coli O157 – September 28, 2010

FoodChek^™‘s E. coli O157 Comparable Test Receives USDA FSIS Approval – July 16, 2010

FoodChek^™ Receives AOAC N-60 Beef Trim Modification Approval for E. coli O157 – July 6, 2010

FoodChek^™ Receives AOAC 375g Ground Beef Modification Approval for E. coli O157 – March 3, 2010

FoodChek^™ Receives First Commercial Order for the MICT^® System and Cassettes from U.S. Based Rastelli Foods Group – November 24, 2009

Robert J. Iverach and Thompson MacDonald Elected to the Board of Directors – October 26, 2009

AOAC Certifies FoodChek^™‘s E. coli O157 Test as a Performance Tested Method – June 24, 2009