Romer Labs®, a food-safety diagnostic
company, has introduced a new method: the AgraStrip® Total Aflatoxin
Quantitative WATEX test kit. The new water-based method allows food, feed and
grain producers to test for aflatoxins without using organic solvents, such as
methanol, which are expensive, flammable, and must be disposed as hazardous
waste.
Aflatoxins are naturally occurring mycotoxins
that are produced by Aspergillus flavus
and Aspergillus parasiticus, species
of fungi. High-level aflatoxin exposure produces an acute hepatic necrosis,
resulting later in cirrhosis, or carcinoma of the liver. Acute hepatic failure
is made manifest by hemorrhage, edema, alteration in digestion, changes to the
absorption and/or metabolism of nutrients, and mental changes and/or coma.
Additionally, the test kits have been significantly
improved to simplify the ease of- use and to speed up the workflow. With the
new dissolvable and pre-weighed extraction buffer bags no time-consuming or
difficult buffer preparations steps are needed. No filtration or centrifugation
step is needed due to innovative extraction equipment that is included in each
test kit, making the use of additional extract clarification obsolete.
With a quantitation range of 0-100 ppb, a
limit of detection of 3ppb and a total time-to-results of 8 minutes including
extraction, sample preparation and strip test development, the AgraStrip® Total
Aflatoxin Quantitative WATEX test kit is the fastest test available on the
market, meeting the industry needs for a simple, sensitive and easy-to-use test
kit.
“With our new AgraStrip Watex test kit line
we fulfill the needs of our customers for an environment-friendly water-based
testing method. At the same time we have further simplified the extraction and
sample preparation with work-flow innovations offering customers a testing
solution that is accurate, easy-to-use and delivers results fast”, states
Michael Prinster, CEO of Romer Labs America.
Over the next months, the new AgraStrip®
WATEX test kit line will be further
expanded to cover regulated mycotoxins.
Posted by Tim Sandle
No comments:
Post a Comment
Pharmaceutical Microbiology Resources