Benefits of On-Site Testing

Despite advances in food pathogen detection, there still exist many challenges and opportunities to improve the current technology. The need for speed is essential and the door is open for new innovations to protect the food supply.  

The current preferred method of sending out samples and waiting for results is a burden on the industry. Delaying shipment of product to market while waiting for test results increases costs and the risk of spoilage. In addition to the health risk associated with contaminated foods, there is the often devastating economic impact to the food producer.

A 2007 recall of 21.6 million pounds of ground beef owing to contamination with E. coli O157:H7 resulted in the Topps Meat Company going out of business after 67 years of operation.

The costs of warehousing along with the potential costs of product recalls make the economic case for on-site pathogen testing. Faster results also mean that products will go to market earlier. Many biosensors have been developed for the detection of foodborne pathogens with the goal to overcome high costs associated with traditional methods.  As the time from sample to result decreases the associated costs of on-site testing will drop with it.

In fact, biosensor advancements have greatly improved our ability to detect minute quantities of analytes.  Research into biosensors has mainly focused on detection platforms with very low detection limits.

The CapWave capillary biosensor invented by Dr. Sadik is at the forefront of this technology advancement and combines high sensitivity into a rugged and portable device that will allow food producers to test on-site and save time and money. The science of speed is what CapWave Sensors delivers.

SAVING THE NEXT 21 LIVES

A tragic week in food safety leaves the food industry with much to think about. 

21 are dead and 109 sick from listeria found in cantaloupes grown at Jensen Farms in Colorado.  It is the third deadliest food-borne illness outbreak in U.S. history and the worst in over a decade. 

This outbreak raises difficult moral questions.  Could those lives have been saved with more thorough testing processes?  Will the human cost lead to a change in priorities? 

The market attention of the food-borne illness events of 2011 will force a shift in priorities; customers will demand it and the industry must take steps to fortify trust.  FSMA will help but implementation takes time and time is our collective enemy.

Jensen Farms can’t provide a complete list of retailers that sold the tainted cantaloupes.  Their fruit was sold and resold.  Outbreaks happened in states where the farm doesn’t sell product directly.

With so many distribution points and so much opportunity for bacteria and pathogens to enter the food chain the need for more on-site testing is clear.   Yet the current trend is for testing to move off-site. 

Tom Weschler of Strategic Consulting Inc. notes in his food microbiology report that 40% of testing is off-site and the market pendulum is swinging in that direction. 

However, that comes at a business cost -waiting 2-3 days for results and it’s expensive.  It also comes at a human cost – insufficient testing at the source enables outbreaks to slip through the gaps in the food safety testing net.

In talking with Tom this week he is convinced that the market pendulum will swing back to on-site, once technology can deliver same-shift testing.  It is our goal at CapWave to deliver precisely that. 


Mr. Ed

AOAC and the Big Easy

AOAC International held their annual meeting and for the first time in 125 years I was in attendance.  While I thought HPLC had seen its better days, I was impressed by the number of posters on these methods for food testing.

More impressive was the number of companies and posters on immunoassay testing for detecting foodborne pathogens as AOAC International recognizes microbiology methods as a fast growing market segment.

Food pathogen testing is growing at a rate of 18% per year in the U.S. , the fastest of any test segment per a market research report from Thomas Weschler of Strategic Consulting Inc..  Pathogen market growth supports why I think CapWave Sensors will be a success.  

Creating awareness of CapWave’s new product, Searchlight, and networking with key opinion leaders in the food testing industry was the main objective for attending this event. I got a lot of great feedback on the product and reinforcement of the need to to simplify, automate and innovate immunoassay testing.

Compared to current methods Searchlight’s sensitivity will allow shorter sample enrichment times and faster results in a simple to use format.

The primary question on Searchlight - have you got data for this?  We’re working on it.  We’ll compile the existing test data and put it on the web site soon.  

How does Searchlight compare to lateral flow?  Two orders of magnitude improvement in sensitivity.  ELISA tests?  One order of magnitude.  Result speed same.  Sample prep faster due to smaller sample sizes in the capillaries and higher sensitivity requiring less material.

We are talking with CapWave inventor Dr. Wunmi Sadik at Binghamton University, SUNY about a starring role in an upcoming webinar.  If you have questions about the technology and want some numbers here’s your chance.  Space is limited, if you’d like to participate contact me.

Mr. Ed

23 Years Experience Says CapWave Is A Game Changer, Here’s Why

I have been part of the life science testing community for over 23 years working for Beckman Coulter and spent many years searching for novel detection devices for diagnostic testing. Trust me, I’ve seen everything.
Some of the technologies were very good and others extremely loony, but when you’re seeking new innovation, you’ve gotta look under a  bunch of rocks to sort through the BS.  

Fortunately it looks like one of the best technologies I’ve ever seen has found me.  I couldn’t be more excited about the possibilities.

In the past most technologies struggled with a low cost way to make a highly sensitive assay testing device. When I first saw the CapWave prototype and the small biosensor, the light instantly went on in my head and I knew right away that this one was different.

The inherent benefits of using a capillary were clear.  This was a unique way to do immunoassays, DNA testing, cellular analysis and colorimetric reactions. It was an opportunity I could not pass up.  

Assay kinetics in capillaries enable better binding to antibodies than traditional plate wells and coated magnetic particle methods. Thus, improved sensitivity in the picogram range can be achieved with shorter reaction times and smaller sample volumes. More importantly, integration of the capillary tubes within a cartridge that contains reagents and waste provides a powerful package for analytical testing.

I knew this technology could take point or care, point of crisis, or point of contamination testing to the next level. My wife is holding out for point of chocolate testing.

The development process at CapWave has begun.  My good friend John Anderson at Phasiks is working with us and his technology is amazing. I’ll tell you more about it next time.
This is an exciting time for us as the product takes shape.  The innovation of our partners is inspiring.  But we need more strategic partners, more leaders to join our Advisory Board, we need talented folks who see what I do - that this technology will revolutionize the future of food safety, veterinary and in-vitro diagnostic testing.  

Stay tuned to my blog and I’ll keep you all posted on our progress. Please check out the web site and as always, I welcome your comments, questions and feedback.

Mr. Ed