Microbiology testing is absolutely essential to maintain the high standards that suppliers demand, with listeria and salmonella top of the list of bacteria screened for
The last twenty years has seen an extraordinary increase in the consumption of salmon in the UK, due in part to intensive farming methods that have made it cheaper and more readily available. This expansion is obviously welcome for fish processing plants like Farne Salmon and Trout, based at Duns in the Scottish borders, but it has increased headaches when it comes to maintaining strict food quality controls.
Microbiology testing is absolutely essential to maintain the high standards that suppliers demand, with listeria and salmonella top of the list of bacteria screened for at Farne.
Paul Cyphus, laboratory manager in the technical department at Farne, supervises environmental testing on every batch of products in the processing plant.
He explained: "We test every batch of fish for listeria and salmonella to make sure it is fit for distribution, but conventional methods are incredibly labour intensive, sometimes taking up to five days to confirm results.
The Igen analyser is very easy to use, which is a bonus because anyone can use it, and the number of false positives has reduced by at least half because the Igen kits detect two self-expressed binding sites, compared to an Elisa test based on just one.
Most importantly though, having just that one instrument means we have made tremendous savings in hands-on time and money."
