ST. PAUL, Minn. – After thorough evaluations of many commercially available methods of pathogen detection, the US Dept. of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA FSIS) has awarded 3M the contract for pathogen detection instruments. 3M’s Molecular Detection System will be used to detect Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes and E. coli O157 (including H7), the three major pathogenic organisms threatening the safety of meat, poultry and egg-related products.

“Protecting food, consumers and businesses with innovative and reliable technologies has been at the core of everything we do, so the USDA FSIS’ selection of 3M as a partner is validation of the science and the spirit of our work,” Polly Foss, 3M Food Safety global vice president, said in a statement. “The 3M Molecular Detection System has proven to be a highly accurate and efficient tool for many food producers globally.”

The system is fast, accurate and overcomes some of the limitations of Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) pathogen testing methods due to isothermal DNA amplification and bioluminescence detection.

This generation of 3M Molecular Detection Assays have been validated by global scientific validation organizations such as AOAC INTERNATIONAL, AFNOR, MicroVal) for a comprehensive variety of sample types, according to the company. The current Molecular Detection System enables users in meat, poultry and other food and beverage categories to run up to 96 different tests concurrently for a range of organisms and across various food and environmental samples through individual, pathogen-specific assays.