Life Technologies Receives AFNOR Validation for Tests Designed to Detect Listeria Contamination in Food Samples

Life Technologies Corporation LIFE has received validation from the certification body of Association Francaise de Normalisation for its MicroSEQ® Listeria spp. and MicroSEQ® Listeria monocytogenes assays, molecular tests that are designed to quickly and accurately detect the presence or absence of this food-borne pathogen that most recently has been associated with an outbreak in cantaloupes. AFNOR certification, which validates alternative methods according to the ISO standard EN/ISO 16140 and applicable throughout Europe, enables customers there to adopt rapid testing methods with proven performance equivalency standards. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based tests, along with Life Technologies' full suite of sample preparation solutions and instruments, decreases the time to results (for negative samples) to 24 hours instead of 4-5 days when using the reference method.