Charm Sciences' Fast Alkaline Phosphatase (F-AP) Test has been accepted as an official pasteurisation test for milk and dairy products in the Grade 'A' Pasteurized Milk Ordinance (PMO).
The actions of the 2009 National Conference on Interstate Milk Shipments (NCIMS) were recently released by the FDA in Memoranda IMS-a-47.
Charm F-AP provides fast HACCP verification of effective pasteurisation and delivers results in just 45 seconds.
The limit of detection of 20mU/L is well below the established US and EU regulatory thresholds of 350mU/L.
The simple one-step procedure requires no reagent preparation or incubation.
The Charm F-AP test is based on the proven Charm Paslite test, an ISO/IDF standard method for testing alkaline phosphatase in milk and dairy products.
Paslite also carries official acceptance by NCIMS/ PMO as well as by Australian (Victorian) and New Zealand food authorities.
Alkaline Phosphatase is a universally accepted marker enzyme to verify pasteurisation efficiency and ultimately pathogen destruction.
F-AP employs an enzyme photo-activated substrate (EPAS) that in the presence of alkaline phosphatase emits a light intensity proportional to the enzyme activity.
The light is detected and read by the Charm Novalum luminometer.
Charm F-AP test is one of nine different tests that can be run on the Novalum system.
Additional tests include Pocketswab Plus for ATP surface hygiene, Watergiene for ATP water quality and Allergiene for allergen-control programmes.
