Neogen's NeoSeek™ for STEC receives AOAC validation

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Aug 21, 2019, 08:45 ET

LANSING, Mich., Aug. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Neogen Corporation (Nasdaq: NEOG) announced AOAC has validated NeoSeek^™ for STEC, a proprietary testing platform that determines the genetic composition of bacteria in a food sample. The newly validated test detects and identifies seven Shiga toxin-producing strains of E. coli (STEC) known to cause severe human illness.

The AOAC's validation means that NeoSeek for STEC can now be used by countries or companies that export to the United States and need to meet U.S. import guidelines. The validation was sought through a collaboration between Neogen and Meat & Livestock Australia Limited (MLA), which delivers marketing and development services, for Australia's cattle, sheep and goat producers. In addition to offering the 24-hour testing service at its animal genomics headquarters in Lincoln, Nebraska, Neogen will also now offer the service at its genomics laboratory in Gatton, Australia.

"This AOAC validation for our NeoSeek system is the first of its kind, and provides further assurance to our customers that our platform performs as designed," said Dr. Jason Lilly, Neogen's vice president of international business. "Meat & Livestock Australia Limited saw the value that our NeoSeek platform could offer its industry and worked with us to earn this important AOAC validation. This will allow abattoirs and other producers to screen their samples with a method that has a greater specificity, or accuracy, than other testing methods that are currently available."

"The collaboration and progress of implementation of NeoSeek in Australia will further enable Australian industry partners to make informed choices in regard to STECs," said Dr. Ian Jenson, MLA's program manager. "The collaboration with Neogen has been an excellent example of MLA delivering valuable research and development services for our beef export industry."

NeoSeek assays 89 independent gene targets to detect and identify pathogens, and provides results directly from the enrichment broth — eliminating the need for single colony isolation, and delivering actionable results much sooner than conventional cultural methods.

AOAC's validation of NeoSeek for STEC (#081901) is the first AOAC PTM validation under the new serviced-based method guidelines. Neogen employees and consultants collaborated with the former AOAC Research Institute Board of Directors to create a pathway for this approval and others like it.

Like the widely regulated E. coli O157:H7 strain, these other six E. coli strains are food safety concerns, and produce Shiga toxins, which are known to cause severe illness.

About MLA
Meat & Livestock Australia Limited (MLA) delivers marketing and research and development services for Australia's cattle, sheep and goat producers, creating opportunities from their combined investments to build demand and productivity across the supply chain. Most of MLA's funding comes from transaction levies placed on the sale of livestock, with the Australian Government providing matched funding for levy investment in most R&D.

About Neogen
Neogen develops and markets products dedicated to food and animal safety. The company's Food Safety Division markets dehydrated culture media and diagnostic test kits to detect foodborne bacteria, natural toxins, food allergens, drug residues, plant diseases and sanitation concerns. Neogen's Animal Safety Division is a leader in the development of animal genomics along with the manufacturing and distribution of a variety of animal healthcare products, including diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, veterinary instruments, wound care and disinfectants.