Neogen’s new salmonella service identifies serotypes in 72 hours

New detection and identification technology has been developed by the US-based Neogen Corporation that provides DNA-specific test results for pathogenic serotypes of salmonella.

The NeoSeek pathogen DNA identification method has been developed by Neogen to offer genomic-based serotypes in as little as 72 hours from suspected salmonella positive isolates.

The company collaborated with Dr Jean Guard of the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service to develop NeoSeek.

Neogen says its new service can identify all of the top 30 salmonella serotypes identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which are being termed by the agency as the leading causes of human salmonella infections.

These serotypes can include variants such as Salmonella enterica Enteritidis and Salmonella enterica Heidelberg.

Neogen vice-president for Food Safety Ed Bradley said: "The rapid detection and identification of specific strains, or serotypes, of Salmonella can be critical to preventing foodborne illness, or rapidly responding to an existing outbreak.

"NeoSeek’s Salmonella serotyping service provides a much quicker, definitive alternative to the conventional biochemical identification of Salmonella serotypes from presumptively positive Salmonella isolates."

Neogen already offers NeoSeek STEC confirmation service, which detects and identifies seven Shiga toxin-producing E coli strains, O26, O45, O103, O111, O121, O145, and O157.

The service has already received a letter of no objection from USDA, which also said it is comparable to the reference method, FSIS MLG 5B.02.