| St. Louis, MO (August 8, 2006) — bioMérieux, an industry-leading biological diagnostics company, will sponsor an educational symposium at the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) Annual Meeting in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The symposium, titled “Innovation@Work for Quality Indicator Testing,” will explore problematic issues surrounding quality indicator testing, and offer innovative solutions from key leaders in the diagnostic industry.
This event will be moderated by Michael Brodsky, Brodsky Consultants. Brodsky is a past-president of the Ontario Food Protection Association, past-president of IAFP and past-president of AOAC International. Michael has 49 scientific publications, has developed and chaired many scientific seminars and symposia, and has given more than 200 presentations to both the international scientific community and the community-at large.
The symposium will commence with a keynote address from Dr. Bala Swaminathan, chief of the Foodborne and Diarrheal Diseases Laboratory Section of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Swaminathan is also the principal architect of PulseNet, a national molecular subtyping network for foodborne disease surveillance. In 1999, he received the Walter R. Dowdle Award from Sigma Xi for his success in public health science and was appointed a Distinguished CDC Fellow in 2000.
Swaminathan’s address will focus on the evolution of diagnostics throughout the past 20 years. He will discuss existing problems in quality indicator testing, and also reveal pathogens and quality indicator organisms of interest and their roles in food safety and security issues.
“We are very excited to sponsor this symposium at IAFP because it gives us the opportunity to provide our peers with innovative and cost-effective solutions for quality control of their products,” said Herb Steward, bioMérieux’s Senior Vice President of North American Commercial Operations. “Our goal for this symposium is to provide an educative forum to discuss common challenges in the food industry, to generate awareness of the available solutions, and provide organizations with the tools needed to increase facility profitability.”
Directly following the keynote address, IAFP attendees are invited to participate in a roundtable discussion involving key opinion leaders in industrial microbiology. Distinguished members of the roundtable discussion include:
- Roy Betts, Campden and Chorleywood Food Research Association
- Hillary Hagan, Tyson Foods
- Les Smoot, Nestle USA
- Mark Carter, Silliker Corporate Research Center
- Stan Bailey, USDA-ARS
- Tony Pavic, Baiada Poultry Pty. Ltd.
The discussion will focus on the members’ experiences with TEMPO®, bioMérieux’s innovative quality indicator testing system, representing the first automated system of its kind. Members will provide firsthand reports on workflow, performance, laboratory implementation, and the impact of TEMPO to their organizations.
TEMPO is the first automated quality indicator testing system in the industry, providing a new tool for the enumeration of quality indicator organisms in food and environmental samples. This innovative testing system delivers a solution for complete sample result traceability and increased time management. Designed to increase company profitability, TEMPO provides a new solution to controlling costs in a food facility.
The symposium will be held at the Hyatt Regency Calgary on Tuesday, August 15, 2006 from 5:30p.m. to 8:00p.m. in Imperial Ballroom 4. Registration begins at 5:00p.m.
About bioMérieux, Inc.
bioMérieux is a leading international diagnostics group that specializes in the field of in vitro diagnostics for clinical and industrial applications. bioMérieux designs, develops, manufactures and markets systems (i.e. reagents, instruments and software) used in:
Clinical applications:
the diagnosis of infectious diseases
such as hepatitis, HIV, tuberculosis and respiratory illnesses,
as well as pathologies such as certain cardiovascular diseases
and certain cancers, based on the analysis of biological samples
(such as blood, saliva or urine); and
Industrial applications:
the microbiological analysis of food, environments (such as water and air), surfaces and pharmaceutical and cosmetic products, based on the analysis of product or environmental samples.
In 2005, bioMérieux sales reached 994 million euros. The company is present in more than 130 countries through 35 subsidiaries and a large network of distributors, which positions the company well to benefit from the growth potential of the in vitro diagnostics market. Some important drivers that underpin this growth are aging populations and age-related illness, illnesses related to life-style and eating habits, emerging new pathogens, the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, the fight against bio-terrorism, and the recognition of the importance of the quality of food products. bioMérieux is listed on the Eurolist of Euronext, Paris (FR0010096479 – BIM). Other information can be found at www.biomerieux-usa.com
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