Food & Beverage Safety

Rapid but accurate tests comprise a desirable first line of defense for determining whether a pathogenic presence exists in foods and beverages. In that regard, the on-site testing capacity of GeneSTAT PCR would help minimize problems of food safety throughout the processing and shipping chains.

There are more than 250 known foodborne diseases. Particularly noteworthy are Campylobacteriosis, Botulism, E. coli, Hepatitis A, Norovirus, Salmonellosis and Shigellosis. Such diseases are frequent, sometimes life-threatening problems for millions of people in the United States and around the world. More than 76 million incidents of such diseases occur each year in the United States, with 325,000 hospitalizations and more than 5,000 deaths. The yearly cost of foodborne diseases in direct medical expenses and lost productivity is, in the U.S. alone, between $5 billion and $6 billion USD.