Neogen launches Veratox® for Crustacea Allergen

LANSING, Mich., April 18, 2012 — Neogen has expanded its comprehensive line of food allergen test kits to include a quantitative test for crustacea.

Neogen’s new Veratox® for Crustacea Allergen provides results in just 30 minutes after extraction, detecting as little as 2.5 ppm of shrimp, prawn, crab or crawfish in finished products, in-process ingredients and clean-in-place rinses.

The new test adds to Neogen’s extensive line of food allergen test kits, which includes rapid tests for peanut, milk, egg, almond, gliadin (gluten), soy, mustard and hazelnut. Neogen is the recognized leader in the development and marketing of diagnostic tests to detect the inadvertent contamination of food with allergens that are not listed on the ingredient label.

“With the development of our new test for crustacea, Neogen continues to provide the rapid and reliable allergen detection food producers have come to expect from us,” said Neogen’s Jennifer Baker. “Neogen strives to help food manufacturers ensure that an unlabeled—and potentially dangerous—ingredient did not make its way into a food product.”

The Veratox for Crustacea Allergen test kit is the same format as Neogen’s previously released quantitative food allergen tests, and utilizes similar laboratory equipment. The new test returns results in the range of 2.5 to 25 parts per million (ppm), and has received an excellent response and consistent results from independent laboratories.

Neogen also offers a rapid lateral flow test for crustacea, Reveal® 3-D for Crustacea Allergen, which detects the allergen on environmental surfaces and in clean-in-place rinses with results in less than 10 minutes. Veratox for Crustacea Allergen eventually will replace Neogen’s existing quantitative assay, BioKits for Shellfish.

Neogen’s food allergen testing products have been developed in close cooperation with the University of Nebraska’s Food Allergy Research and Resource Program, or FARRP (www.farrp.org). FARRP is a food industry and university partnership that was formed to provide research and resource tools to the food industry. It is a leading authority in training and educating the industry on allergen awareness.

Neogen Corporation (NASDAQ: NEOG) develops and markets products and services dedicated to food and animal safety. The company’s Food Safety Division markets dehydrated culture media, and diagnostic test kits to detect foodborne bacteria, natural toxins, genetic modifications, food allergens, ruminant by-products, drug residues, plant diseases and sanitation concerns.