bioMérieux’s Automated TEMPO® Range Now Covers the Major Quality Indicators with Two New Kits for the Enumeration of Staphylococcus and Lactic Acid Bacteria

bioMérieux, a world leader in the field of in vitro diagnostics, is enhancing its line of food quality solutions with the launch of two new TEMPO® kits: TEMPO STA, for the enumeration of coagulase-positive staphylococci (S. aureus) and TEMPO LAB, for the enumeration of Lactic Acid Bacteria.

“With our expanded TEMPO menu, bioMérieux now covers all of the major quality indicators,” stated Alexandre Mérieux, bioMérieux Corporate Vice President, Industrial Microbiology. “The automated TEMPO system meets the needs of our customers in the food industry with a cost-effective solution that is less time-consuming and labor-intensive than traditional methods.”

Growth of Staphylococcus aureus in food products is a public health risk since certain strains produce enterotoxins, which if ingested can cause staphylococcal food poisoning. The enumeration of Staphylococcus aureus in food samples is critical to monitoring product quality throughout the manufacturing process, identifying risks and assessing the effectiveness of sanitation measures.

TEMPO STA delivers results within 24 hours instead of up to 48 hours for the ISO reference methods and up to 4 days for the BAM method. No confirmation step is needed, contrary to most of the other methods.

Some Lactic Acid Bacteria are used in the production of fermented foods such as yogurt. However, certain species can cause spoilage and degrade the organoleptic quality of a product (its taste, color, texture and/or smell). Therefore, the level of Lactic Acid Bacteria in a product has an important role in determining its shelf life.

TEMPO LAB provides Lactic Acid Bacteria counts within 40-48 hours, compared to 3 days for the reference methods, which also require time-consuming plating techniques.

The fully automated TEMPO system offers ease of use and fast turnaround time for accurate and standardized results. TEMPO STA and TEMPO LAB complete the system’s menu covering most quality indicator testing needs: TEMPO TVC (Total Viable Count), TEMPO EC (Escherichia coli), TEMPO TC (Total coliforms), TEMPO CC (Coliforms count) and TEMPO EB (Enterobacteriaceae).

About TEMPO®
TEMPO automates testing for most quality indicator organisms. The technology behind TEMPO is based on an established microbiological method, called Most Probable Number (MPN). Through automation, TEMPO takes the older, labor-intensive MPN method and standardizes numerous preparation steps, interpretation, and test results. The outcome is a fast, accurate method with more reliability than the original process.

About bioMérieux
Advancing Diagnostics to Improve Public Health

A world leader in the field of in vitro diagnostics for 45 years, bioMérieux is present in more than 150 countries through 38 subsidiaries and a large network of distributors. In 2007, revenues reached €1.063 billion with 84% of sales outside of France.

bioMérieux provides diagnostic solutions (reagents, instruments, software) which determine the source of disease and contamination to improve patient health and ensure consumer safety. Its products are used for diagnosing infectious diseases and providing high medical value results for cardiovascular emergencies and cancer screening and monitoring. They are also used for detecting microorganisms in agri-food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic products. bioM érieux is listed on the NYSE Euronext Paris market (Code: BIM – Code ISIN: FR0010096479). Other information can be found at http://www.biomerieux.com/.