Innovation in food safety

The EU integrated approach to food safety aims to ensure a high level of food safety through coherent farm-to-table measures. Furthermore the Regulation (EC) 178/2002 clearly states that both feed and food shall not be placed in the market if unsafe, and introduces the traceability at all stages of production, processing or distribution of feed and food. It’s clear that more than ever food manufacturers have to focus their attention increasingly on ensuring that only safe food products enter the market place and on stepping up research into new and better ways of detecting hazards in food. And there is a current trend among manufacturers to involve the whole food chain in dealing with the safety of their products. In several product areas, including the meat industry, monitoring programs have been initiated as a means of controlling quality and ensuring food safety. Feed and food analysis play a vital role in this area and are increasingly applied to both incoming and finished products. As such, they are key to verifying the effectiveness of quality and safety assurance procedures and are essential in monitoring program that cover the whole food chain.

As part of its new, five-year strategy program, DSM Nutritional Products, the world’s largest supplier of vitamins, carotenoids and enzymes to the animal and human nutrition and health industries, is strengthening its focus on food safety. With its long tradition of supplying high-quality products and services to the feed and food industries, DSM Nutritional Products adds value to the food chain by providing innovative solutions based on safety, traceability and quality. It continues to help industry to optimize animal health and productivity while reducing the environmental impact of farming by developing new solutions.

The commitment of DSM Nutritional Products in the food chain is further stressed by the launch of a special innovation program called Food Chain and Food Safety. As part of this program, DSM Nutritional Products is providing improved analytical tests to detect antimicrobial residues and pathogens in food products. Up to now the portfolio comprises tests for the rapid detection of antimicrobial residues (e.g. Premi®Test), but DSM Nutritional Products is expanding this range with easy-to-use detection methods including those for pathogens. These improved test methods will offer novel and rapid solutions for all industries involved in the food chain, from feed to animal-origin foods. The first results of these new developments, outcomes of both internal developments and external collaboration, will be shortly presented at an upcoming conference.

Continuing concerns
Food safety and the issues surrounding it continue to be a source of concern throughout the supply chain. Who can forget the BSE and Salmonella crises, which remain firmly embedded in the memories of not only European farmers, but food processors, governments and, indeed, consumers? Despite the mentioned regulations across Europe being tightened in order to provide a greater degree of safety assurance, problems and scares still arise, further eroding consumer confidence. As recently as last year, there were a number of contamination scares both nationally and across European, particularly within the egg, poultry and fish (shrimps) sectors. Meanwhile, the screening and labeling of imported products in European countries remains a contentious issue. With similar scares occurring globally, the need for vigilance and strict monitoring is evident.

The use of medicaments given to farm animals, regardless of however they are administered, also remains problematic. It has been widely documented that this can lead to residues in meat and offal. On-going concerns about the consumption of these residues have fuelled the demand for reliable and rapid self-monitoring tests, to ensure that only the safest products enter the food chain.

Solution for the whole food chain
Fulfilling its role as a leading provider of innovative solutions to feed and food safety, DSM Nutritional products has developed a fast and effective antibiotic residue-screening test that detects antimicrobial substances in fresh meat, fish and eggs. Premi®Test is not only fast and effective, it is easy to use and cost effective. Moreover, broad experience now proves that it significantly improves on-site meat and fish screening, offering a means by which food producers can assure retailers that they are actively pursuing the highest quality standards. Giving a guarantee of product safety in this way helps to boost consumer and retailer confidence.

Premi®Test works by heating spores in an agar medium to the temperature at which they will germinate (64°C). If there are no inhibitory substances present, the germinated spores will multiply accompanied by the production of acid. This is visible by a change in the colour of the indicator from purple to yellow. When antibacterial compounds are present at or above the detection level of the test, no growth will occur and the color remains purple.
As well as being suitable for meat, fish and eggs, Premi®Test can also be used to test animal urine, giving farmers, breeders and veterinarians a quick and inexpensive way to screen livestock before sending them to the abattoir.

By enabling important quality checks on both live animals and on the meat at a later stage, the industry now has a valuable tool to guarantee the quality of meat throughout the supply chain. It eliminates waiting for farmers before finding out if the meat is up to standard and it allows them to test their livestock on their farms and at any time. It also enables veterinarians to carrying out quality inspections by simply collecting urine samples from farms and performing the actual testing in their own practice.

Early, earlier, earliest screening
In an effort to push back the point at which screening and hence protection of the food chain begins, DSM has also developed a quick and easy test for detecting anti-microbial substances in animal feed. Premi?Test can now be used to test feed before being fed to livestock. Especially applicable to swine and poultry feeds, the test involves the same type of ampoules that are currently used with Premi?Test for the meat and fish industry.

Much faster than existing testing methods that require overnight incubation, Premi®Test gives reliable results in less than four hours, as demonstrated with a broad spectrum of most relevant antimicrobial compounds in meat, at or below the EU maximum residue level.

As an aid to judging the results obtained using Premi®Test, DSM has developed the Premi®Scan, an automated system for objectively determining the color of the test. Premi®Scan is a software program available on a CD-ROM, which only requires a PC with Windows 98 (or higher) and an HP-Scanbed, so no sophisticated equipment is needed. Premi®Scan can read and record the results automatically. Premi®Test and Premi®Scan can be used on-site and require no specialised training.

Latest developments
DSM Nutritional Products is pouring significant additional resources into boosting innovation in the field of food safety. Françoise de Goeijen of DSM Nutritional Products is business manager of the Premi®Test and closely involved in the whole Food Safety project. She underlines the company’s strategic direction. “We are heavily committed to developing our portfolio of solutions in the food safety area and are adding an innovative test for Salmonella next to Premi®Test. Unlike all existing tests for Salmonella available on the market, our goal is to go beyond primary screening stage by immediately screening for subspecies (serovars). This offers the advantage of speed and convenience by eliminating the need for a secondary analysis, i.e. the confirmation test, in cases where a sample is tested as positive” DSM Nutritional Products is also extending Premi®Test to include a test for quinolones. Quinolones is a group of gram-negative antimicrobials, which are not detected by the Premi®Test. A prototype has already been developed and has been validated successfully by CSL, the governmental laboratory in the U.K. A suitable practical test still has to be further developed and, according to de Goeijen, will be commercially available in the near future.