Strategic Diagnostic introduces hygiene monitoring test for food prep surfaces

The Lumitester PD-10N/LuciPac W system is a patented platform with a proprietary enzymatic recycling technology that enables detection of both AMP and ATP. It is said to offer significant advantages over other hygiene monitoring systems on the market, which, due to the unstable nature of ATP, may not give a true indication of cleaning efficiencies. AMP is a stable, persistent molecule with the ability to give users a more precise, reproducible indication of the effectiveness of both cleaning and sanitation programmes.

Rapid sanitation testing using ATP methods has grown in acceptance as a practical way to monitor the hygienic status of food production lines and food service surfaces, as well as to evaluate sanitation procedures. The Lumitester PD-10N/LuciPac W system will allow users to better assess both cleanliness and sanitation in their facilities.

"Thorough cleaning of food preparation surfaces is the first line of defense against inadvertent contamination," said Dr Orla Cloak, SDI's market development manager for food safety. "Leaving even small amounts of biological material on food preparation surfaces can harbour bacteria, increase the rate of bacterial growth and increase the amount of cleaning chemical required to remedy the situation."

SDI's test claims to provide extremely accurate results even when only small amount of residual biological material is present. This allows the user to take action to produce cleaner surfaces at a lower cost when appropriate cleaning methods are applied. Clean surfaces stay cleaner longer, cost less to maintain, and reduce the risk of inadvertent pathogen contamination, the company says.

Furthermore, the patented reagents are detergent tolerant. The Lumitester PD-10N/LuciPac W system is thus able to see residual biological material that might otherwise be missed when cleaning chemicals interfere with the sample detection.