Home test kit for E. coli and Salmonella?
Magna Medical Services (MMS) is pumping out the press releases following high profile outbreaks. These dudes have been around for a while, and usually after every outbreak they fire out something about testing your food with their high-powered testing. Today's says:
With the recent string of food recalls, food and health retailers are scrambling to offer instant food testing kits for E.coli and Salmonella manufactured by Magna Medical Services, Inc. MMS Quick Results Food Testing Kits are home food test kits for E.coli and Salmonella.
“Retailers will be able to sell home kits for E.coli and Salmonella to clients that need to quickly check their food areas and food products for possible bacteria outbreaks,” says Robert Greene, General Manager for Magna Medical Services, Inc “This is a product that should be right next to every home first aid kit.
They also put out releases following the 2006 spinach-linked E. coli O157:H7 outbreak, and another that cites "recent E. coli outbreaks that have affected the Northeastern United States" back in January. Seem to be capitalizing on public interest in food safety, but I have lots of questions about the product.
Does this product even work (and how would we know)?
Where is the data (because it's not on their website)?
How sensitive is it?
What's the utility of using quick strips on food in your home?
How do you sample food in your house?
What would happen if a firm,or a temporary food stand, or my mom used these strips, the results showed no contamination, and the food still resulted in an outbreak?
Maybe it's a good tool, but without some of these questions answered I file MMS into the huckster category, capitalizing on food safety hysteria. Maybe MMS have some good answers, and I welcome any comments on this product here on barfblog.
Some of my food microbiologist friends are struggling with figuring out the best way to use traditional, labour-intensive methods of sampling different foods (especially produce) and there are disagreements on sample preparation. Seems MMS has got it all figured out. And only for "less than $4 USD"
I think what MMS is trying to sell is a magic bullet -- test with our strips and you can be sure about your food. And without the data, I'm not sure they can say that, I don't believe that there are magic bullets in food safety, it's not that simple.
With the recent string of food recalls, food and health retailers are scrambling to offer instant food testing kits for E.coli and Salmonella manufactured by Magna Medical Services, Inc. MMS Quick Results Food Testing Kits are home food test kits for E.coli and Salmonella.
“Retailers will be able to sell home kits for E.coli and Salmonella to clients that need to quickly check their food areas and food products for possible bacteria outbreaks,” says Robert Greene, General Manager for Magna Medical Services, Inc “This is a product that should be right next to every home first aid kit.
They also put out releases following the 2006 spinach-linked E. coli O157:H7 outbreak, and another that cites "recent E. coli outbreaks that have affected the Northeastern United States" back in January. Seem to be capitalizing on public interest in food safety, but I have lots of questions about the product.
Does this product even work (and how would we know)?
Where is the data (because it's not on their website)?
How sensitive is it?
What's the utility of using quick strips on food in your home?
How do you sample food in your house?
What would happen if a firm,or a temporary food stand, or my mom used these strips, the results showed no contamination, and the food still resulted in an outbreak?
Maybe it's a good tool, but without some of these questions answered I file MMS into the huckster category, capitalizing on food safety hysteria. Maybe MMS have some good answers, and I welcome any comments on this product here on barfblog.
Some of my food microbiologist friends are struggling with figuring out the best way to use traditional, labour-intensive methods of sampling different foods (especially produce) and there are disagreements on sample preparation. Seems MMS has got it all figured out. And only for "less than $4 USD"
I think what MMS is trying to sell is a magic bullet -- test with our strips and you can be sure about your food. And without the data, I'm not sure they can say that, I don't believe that there are magic bullets in food safety, it's not that simple.
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As Vice President General Manager, I thought I should reply to your blog. I found it very interesting and enjoyable. I was saddened to see that you placed us in the "huckster"ť category. I would have welcomed better support (and I'll explain why later).
However, first, I want to answer some of your questions.
Does this product even work (and how would we know)?
We have contracted with an independent AOAC approved lab to verify our claims to our product.
Where is the data (because it's not on their website)?
We follow FDA protocol, each kit has an assigned "lot number" and upon request we can email or mail the Certificate of Analysis. This certificate verifies that the lot is valid and not defective. The Certificate is issued by Lowenkamp Labs of Hazlehurst, Mississippi (AOAC Approved lab).
How sensitive is it?
Our corporate website (www-dot-magnamedicalservices-dot-com) has a tab for Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ).
This exact question is located there. Bacteria are measured by CFUs. The cut off base level for Salmonella is 50-75 CFUs and for E.coli is 75-100 CFUs.
What's the utility of using quick strips on food in your home?
Currently, there is no other home test kit. This gives consumers peace of mind. So, this kit is effective in testing food, water, and hard surfaces. Examples are, power outages (spoilage is bacteria growing on food), Product Recall (no sure the beef or chicken you bought is the brand named mentioned because you re-wrapped the product, cities that issue boil water advisories tell you to run your water (could there be some contamination left in the pipes?) or even you've eaten something and you are feeling ill.
We really encourage people to keep this with your first aid kit because there are many conditions where testing is needed.
Please be sure that this is a preliminary presumptive and we tell all our consumers to take any positive test results to your local health department or store (where purchased).
How do you sample food in your house?
1-3-5 RULE! (Located on the instructions)
1 ounce of food, plus 3 ounces of water (preferably distilled water) and 5 drops of our buffer, mix (in blender) and dip our strips in. This is the quick answer and I highly suggest the follow the instructions provided.
What would happen if a firm, or a temporary food stand, or my mom used these strips; the results showed no contamination, and the food still resulted in an outbreak?
Good Question, there no guarantee (not even from labs) that the food is safe. As you know bacteria grows fast, at the time of testing, you might have a small amount bacteria on food that won’t register on our test but then it can multiply (in the right conditions).
I hope I satisfied your questions. I am open to answer any questions that anyone might have and they can email our office at foodtestingstrips-at-gmail-dot-com
What you should have mentioned is WHY won't grocery stores carry the product? We approached them all and they don't want people buying the kits and going over to their produce or meat sections.
So, there has been industry resistance to getting test kits in the hands of the consumer. So, I was hoping you would have more support for us and our initiative. We even went to food investors and they felt that our product would cause too many lawsuits for the food industry handle.
We feel this product is helpful in making homes safe.
You know, when I saw this press release (on FSNET) I immediately thought WWDT* as I often do when I hear dubiously spectacular food safety claims. Thanks for being some much needed perspective to the food safety debate.
*What Would Doug Think?
In case you were wondering how this kit works, as I was, the principle is outlined on the MMS website, which I reproduce here.
"NOTE: This product is a preliminary test strip which is an enzyme detection test.
Pads: Chromogenic substrates with Insoluble precipitate (colored)
Agent: Enzymes (from bacteria)
Buffer: Reagent
The test screen pads consists of a mixture of chomogenic (sic) substrates impregnated on the pad which produces an insoluble colored precipitate when reacted upon by the enzyme produced by the live organism to be detected.
For quality control purposes each order comes with a kit control which will insure integrity for each lot ordered."
Nice to see that I'm not the only one who is skeptical about this "food safety" product. A couple of items in response to the comment from Robert Greene.
1. Contracting with an AOAC-approved lab to verify individual lots is not the same as obtaining AOAC (or other) validation of the reliability of the method.
2. Even if the claimed sensitivity of 50-75 CFU (Salmonella) or 75-100 E. coli in a one ounce sample is valid, this test is useless. Either microbe can cause illness at much lower inoculum levels than these.
I also noticed on the company's website that the test does not necessarily work properly in bacteria grown in suspension, but works reliably in "natural" situations. This is nonsense. Any of us (myself included) who have developed and/or validated pathogen test kits knows all to well that the simplest situation is "pure culture", and that addition of a food matrix always is a complicating factor in method design.