AOAC approves Commercial Sterility test for Oculer Rapid 930 Series Instrument

Birdhill, Tipperary, Ireland, 28th May 2024. Oculer Limited, a leader in rapid microbiology testing for the food and beverage industries, has today announced that it has received approval from the AOAC Research Institute for its Oculer Rapid 930 CS-Check Assay, which is designed to demonstrate commercial sterility in a variety of food and beverage products.

The AOAC’s Performance TestedSM Method Certification (No. 102301) demonstrates independent validation of the Oculer 930 procedure for the demonstration of commercial sterility in UHT milk. Oculer’s Rapid 930 CS-Check is designed to detect the presence of bacteria, yeast and moulds in pre-incubated food and beverage products. The high sample to medium ratio ensures that in this second incubation step, only those organisms that can grow in the original product are detected. During the study, 51 strains of bacteria, yeast and moulds were tested; all were detected by the system within 48 hours and 19 gave positive results within one hour. The system was shown to be capable of detecting spoilage organisms much faster than the reference method with pre-incubation times being reduced by 66% and detection times reduced by between 33 and 99%.

The Oculer Rapid 930 CS-Check system is inoculated with 10ml of pre-incubated sample and organisms that have grown to a high concentration during pre-incubation are detected rapidly, often within minutes. The large sample volume also facilitates the detection of slower growing organisms that may take longer to cause product spoilage.

“Our Oculer Rapid 930 CS-Check assay detects spoilage organisms quickly and accurately and is particularly suitable for small to medium sized food production facilities” says Prof. Colin Fricker, Oculer’s Chief Scientific Officer. “We are delighted to receive AOAC’s certification and to be able to provide simple, fast and accurate tests for spoilage organisms. Receiving the AOAC Performance Tested Method Certification demonstrates Oculer’s commitment to providing the highest quality test methods for our quality conscious food customers”.

About Oculer 930 CS-Check

The Oculer 930 CS-Check system is easy to use and requires minimal laboratory skills to operate. It is an automated incubator/reader which relies on the utilisation of oxygen by aerobic organisms, with the depletion of oxygen being detected by changes in the characteristics of a luminescent sensor. All sample vials are provided containing gamma-irradiated novel culture media designed to detect a wide range of organisms in the shortest time possible. Because the system is not based upon colour changes, it is suitable for highly coloured and turbid matrices.

About AOAC

The AOAC Research Institute (AOAC RI) is a division of AOAC International that promotes and conducts activities to help develop, improve, and validate proprietary testing methods.

The Performance Tested Methods (PTM) program helps companies and their customers safeguard their businesses, mitigate risk, and protect consumers through trusted, reliable testing methods and products. The PTM program provides independent third-party review and certification for proprietary test method performance. The certification mark assures users that an independent assessment has established that a test method performance meets an appropriate standard for its intended use.

About Oculer

Oculer Limited develops and markets simple, fast and accurate solutions for the detection of spoilage organisms in a wide range of food and beverage products.

Oculer’s innovative technology is designed for rapid microbiological testing of food and beverages within routine production operations. The Oculer Rapid 930 Series instrument is a fully automated, self-contained, off-the-shelf benchtop solution which is simple, fast and accurate.

For further information, please see www.oculer.com or contact Oculer by emailing us at info@oculer.com.