Certus has launched the Certus System, a bio-contained, in-house solution for pathogen detection for small and mid-sized food processing plants.
The company says this system will make food safer by providing producers fast, easy and cost effective ways to detect environmental Listeria in food processing environments and the food itself prior to reaching consumers.
It is designed to make environmental testing and monitoring simple, greatly reducing time and cost by eliminating media and sample preparation, courier expense and risk of opening an enriched sample in the plant.
Anyone with minimal training will simply swab a surface, add media to the Bio-Lock Detection Tube, and insert the tube into the Certus Detection Unit to start getting rapid results during the enrichment cycle. There is no need for centrifuges, incubators, pipettes, stomachers, bags and many ancillary items and steps that current methods require.
The company's patented Grow, Read, Detect continuous monitoring process combines enrichment and high sensitivity detection in a homogenous, no-wash format for real-time monitoring.
It eliminates complex workflow and enables any food processor to conduct safe and easy on-site testing, receive instant alerts, and take action to remediate.
The first commercial system will be launched in 2018 for environmental monitoring and prevention of Listeria spp.
"We are focused on building a business that solves real problems," says CERTUS President, John Coomes. "Now with FSMA compliance requirements, small and medium-sized producers face expensive outsourced testing that takes days for results to come in or they need to invest in bio-safe labs, expensive equipment, and highly skilled lab technicians. Our customers will avoid all of those risks and expenses.”
The CERTUS pathogen detection system was designed and developed through strategic collaborations. The core SERS technology and instrument design is based on innovative technology exclusively licensed from BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) for applications in the food safety market.
Certus is being marketed through Toho Technology group as a new brand specialising in Food Safety. Founded in Nagoya, Japan, Toho is a privately-held company that provides engineering, manufacture, distribution and support of diverse industrial and life-science technologies to customers around the world. With significant expertise in precision instrumentation and equipment sales, The company currently operates multiple facilities in Chicago, Illinois; Japan; Shanghai, China and Jakarta, Indonesia.
Toho Technology Inc is the launch site for the CERTUS global expansion with all R&D, operations and sales centered in its Chicago location.
