Oxoid has announced that it can now provide food testing laboratories with the Remel Rapid range of microbial identification (ID) systems for product safety applications.
Unlike alternative methods that require separate inoculation of individual wells, Rapid identification panels have a simple, one-step inoculation procedure.
A suspect colony suspension is simply added to the inoculation tray and tipped into the test strip, inoculating each well simultaneously.
Each Rapid panel uses the same procedure, so if users can use one panel, they can use them all.
Rapid systems provide rapid, same-day results; this is because Rapid detects bacterial enzymes and is not dependent on the growth of the organism.
This feature allows the panels to be incubated aerobically without the need for oil overlays, resulting in savings in time and resources.
Panels require no specialised automation, so even small microbiology laboratories can easily adopt Rapid.
In trials, the Rapid method demonstrated good performance in the identification of oxidase negative Enterobacteriaceae, anaerobic bacteria, Gram-negative glucose non-fermenters and yeasts and related organisms, and streptococci and related organisms.
A new system is now available for the identification of staphylococci and related organisms.
Distinct colour reactions make Rapid easy to read and interpret.
Accurate identifications are obtained from the user-friendly, Windows-based Eric software, with results ranked by probability.
Cheryl Mooney, industrial applications manager at Oxoid, said: 'The ability to ensure product safety while keeping costs to a minimum is crucial to the food industry in the current financial climate.
'Rapid allows the microbiology laboratory to confirm microbial identifications on isolates from raw materials, finished product or the production environment speedily, thus avoiding delays in production or release of product, which saves time and money.'
