Neogen Europe offers on-site and contract laboratory meat speciation testing

AYR, Scotland, 18 February, 2013 – Neogen Europe Ltd. uniquely offers easy and accurate meat speciation testing options that can be performed on-site, or by testing experts at the company’s UKAS-accredited laboratories in Scotland. Its established range of meat speciation testing options are used by numerous food industry laboratories and government food control agencies around the world.

Neogen’s on-site speciation products have become the preferred choice by enforcement, industry and private laboratories, where reliable results are essential. Its on-site products include: F.A.S.T. Species Identification Kits, which are simple yet robust qualitative tests designed to allow the detection of species content in uncooked meats and meat products with a limit of detection of 1%. Kits are available for the detection of horse, cow, pig, poultry and sheep; BioKits for Species Identification, which are widely recognised as an industry leader, and provide sensitive, specific qualitative detection for a range of raw and cooked animal species; and DNA based species identification tests, which use a proprietary magnetic bead technology that provides significant advantages over other methods of DNA extraction.

“Our on-site meat speciation testing options were first established over a decade ago, and uniquely, they can be performed with unparalleled ease and speed,” said Neogen Europe’s Steve Chambers. “However, we understand that not all companies in the food industry that need to have their meat products tested for species composition are capable of performing the tests on-site. To those companies, we offer our accredited contract laboratory services.”

To complement and support our on-site testing solutions, Neogen offers expert, reliable UKAS-accredited DNA based contract laboratory services for meat speciation that are carried out by highly trained scientific analysts using state-of-the-art equipment. Qualitative UKAS-accredited testing is available for up to eight species, including pig and horse. In addition, quantitative DNA testing is available for horse, chicken and pig. Preventing the adulteration of feed and food products with non-desirable or low-quality animal products is important for economic, regulatory, health and ethnic reasons. The identification of species is performed to assure consumers that the products they purchase are safe, wholesome and properly labelled to prevent the substitution of meat with unsuitable or inferior species, or in religious communities where a particular species is prohibited.

Neogen Europe Ltd., the European subsidiary of Neogen Corporation (NASDAQ: NEOG), is a high technology business dedicated to the development and marketing of novel diagnostic kits. These kits focus on topical concerns about the quality and safety of food and agricultural products, from the quality of seed that goes into the ground, right through the chain to the safety of fully processed food products. Neogen Europe was awarded the Queens Award for Enterprise for international trade and development, one of the highest awards bestowed on a UK company.