Biomerieux has announced that its Tempo STA automated quality indicator test has been approved by both Afnor Validation according to the ISO 16140 norm and the AOAC Research Institute.
Tempo STA is an automated quality indicator test for the fast enumeration of Staphylococcus aureus in food products.
These third-party validations are intended to provide food professionals with added assurance for high-performance testing standards.
Tempo STA provides results in 24 hours without any need for confirmatory testing, compared with traditional methods, which take anywhere from 48 hours to four days for results.
Food products contaminated with certain strains of Staphylococcus aureus can lead to serious food-borne illness in humans.
The onset of illness is usually rapid and often serious and is caused by ingesting enterotoxins produced by some strains of Staphylococcus aureus when food is not stored appropriately.
The severity of disease depends on the amount of contaminated food ingested, the individual's response to the toxin and the general health of the victim.
Symptoms generally appear within two to four hours and most commonly include nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramping and prostration.
The enumeration of Staphylococcus aureus is important to detect the toxin levels in foods and to avoid the risk of possible illness.
Tempo STA has been certified by Afnor Validation according to ISO 16140 versus the ISO 6888-2 method for the enumeration of coagulase-positive staphylococci and AOAC RI following the Bacteriological Analytical Manual (BAM) method for the enumeration of Staphylococcus aureus in food products.
