Development of magnetometer technology for food safety assays

The business opportunity in microbiological testing
The market for all microbiological diagnosis in agriculture, nature and the environment
demonstrates continued growth between 2008 and 2015. In 2008, a billion tests were
undertaken. The European share of this market is forecast to be 32% in 2015 (compared to
26% in the USA) with a value of 419 M€ in 2015 (from 214 M€ in 2007).
If development proceeds successfully, the outcome of this project to prove the concept of a
Magneto-Immuno-assay (MIA) will provide a highly desirable break-through in the food
testing marketplace, where some 120 million pathogen tests are performed annually (12% of
global microbiological testing by volume, 30% by value).
The problem of food poisoning and the need for pathogen testing
Every year, 2.2 million people around the world die from food infections, the majority of
them children . The US Center for Disease Control estimate that 48 million people get sick
and 3,000 people die annually in the USA as a result of food poisoning. In Europe, the
problem is believed to be of a comparable size despite many cases being completely
preventable. In addition to the human consequences, whenever a recall of food products is
necessary, the announcement can seriously damage the reputation of the manufacturer,
distributor and retailer even where there is no illness or loss of life.
In food safety applications there is a market requirement for faster, less costly, less labourintensive
methods for capturing and detecting pathogens such as Salmonella, Listeria and
E.Coli 0157 in food and food-related matrices. One problem with current methods used for
detecting bacteria is that the bacteria must be grown overnight in order to reach enough
numbers to reach the Limit of Detection (LOD) of the test. This MIA technology has the
potential sensitivity to reduce the required growth time.
This novel biosensor platform technology for rapid accurate bacterial cell capture and
detection offers the realistic prospect of reducing sample enrichment time significantly
enough for a same-day test.
Residue testing
Although the number of antibiotic residue tests undertaken is considerably lower than that of
microbiological assays, the gross margins on residue tests are far more attractive.
The flexibility of the MIA system will be particularly useful to animal and dairy producers,
where the volume of residue testing is highest, as the technology has the potential to be
developed into both a high-throughput, laboratory-based system and a portable, battery
operated, single shot test kit.
Intended project outcome
A successful outcome to this project will develop technology with the potential to have a
significant impact in improving food safety and reducing the incidence of food poisoning and
unwanted antibiotic residues, with obvious benefits to the healthcare system and to consumer
health.