picture provided by INL
Our
partner, the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory, is working to
improve food safety. They have just published a novel multiplex real-time RPA
method for the rapid detection of Listeria monocytogenes:
Comparative
study of multiplex real-time recombinase polymerase amplification and ISO
11290-1 methods for the detection of Listeria monocytogenes in dairy products
The
development of novel methods for the rapid detection of Listeria monocytogenes
is of high interest due to due to particular concerns about this its ubiquity,
resistance to sanitation processes and high mortality rates resulting from
infection.
The
evaluation of a novel multiplex real-time Recombinase Polymerase Amplification
(RPA) method including an internal amplification control is reported in the
paper released in volume 92 of Food Microbiology. The method performance was
compared to that of the European reference method (ISO 11290-1) for the
detection of the species in samples from 40 commercial dairy products. A limit
of detection below 10 cfu/25 g or mL sample was achieved, and values higher
than 90% were obtained for relative sensitivity, specificity, accuracy,
positive and negative predictive values and the index (kappa) of concordance.
Analysis was achieved within one working day, compared to the six days required
using the ISO method. Moreover, slight modification of the ISO 11290-1 method
to include secondary enrichment in half Fraser broth resulted in the
confirmation of all positive samples.