Cherney Microbiological Services, headquartered in Green Bay, WI in the US, has linked up with Mocon to help food companies determine why they are having product spoilage issues.
The firms are combining Mocon's GreenLight technology with Cherney's food testing expertise.
Minneapolis-based Mocon’s GreenLight instruments rapidly screen for presence and number of aerobic microbes.
The system is suitable for quality assurance for food and pharmaceutical product testing.
It uses an oxygen sensor for measuring total viable count (TVC) and some 'indicator' organisms.
According to Mocon, typical results are obtained in 1 to 15 hours compared with the 48 to 72 hour testing period required by traditional plate count methods.
'Standard microbial screening methods will tell you what is happening, but not why and when it’s happening or how it affects shelf-life,' said Alan Traylor, Business Manager, Microbial Detection at Mocon.
'That’s why it’s important to bring food testing expertise into the equation.'
He added: 'Mocon’s GreenLight instrumentation not only significantly reduces test times but offers a closer look at spoilage mechanisms. This gives our clients the ability to move rapidly into ‘food detective’ phase.'
Debra Cherney, founder and Chief Executive of Cherney Microbiological Services said: 'By combining Mocon’s GreenLight technology with Cherney’s three decades of food testing expertise, we will be able to get to the root of the spoilage problem so that the processor can correct it.'