MIT 1000 Rapid Microbial Identification System Receives AOAC Research Institute Listeria Performance Test Method Certification

Main Category: Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses
Article Date: 10 Jun 2009 - 0:00 PDT

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Micro Imaging Technology, Inc. (OTCBB: MMTC) announced that it has received AOAC Research Institute (AOAC RI) Performance Test Method™ (PTM) certification for the MIT 1000 System's (System) identification of Listeria species (PTM Certificate Number 060901). Listeria are known to be the bacteria responsible for listeriosis, a rare but lethal food-borne infection that has a devastating case fatality rate of 25% (Salmonella, in comparison, has a less than 1% mortality rate). They are incredibly hardy and able to grow in temperatures ranging from 4°C (39°F), the temperature of a refrigerator, to 37°C (99°F), the body's internal temperature. Furthermore, listeriosis' deadliness can be partially attributed to the infection's ability to spread to the nervous system and cause meningitis.

AOAC RI's "expert reviewers" performed a thorough evaluation of MIT's PTM validation study report that included 81 bacterial identification (ID) tests and resulted in a 99% accuracy score with only one incorrect ID. In addition, 406 ruggedness tests were conducted to evaluate the System's flexibility should a user vary the test procedure from that specified by MIT. The PTM validation study report will be available for viewing on the AOAC RI Validated Methods web site (http://www.aoac.org/testkits/testedmethods.html). The study report will also be published in the Journal of AOAC INTERNATIONAL and a certification article will be published later this year in the AOAC Magazine, "Inside Laboratory Management."

The MIT 1000 System performs rapid and low cost microbial IDs in a process that is significantly different from all other ID methods as it does not rely on chemical or biological agents, conventional processing, fluorescent tags, gas chromatography or DNA analysis. The process is totally GREEN requiring only clean water and a sample of the unknown bacteria. Initially, the Company will target sales in the food industry where over $3 billion is spent in rapid ID testing annually and rising at nearly 10 percent per year.

John Ricardi, MIT's Vice President and COO, stated, "This Certification enables MIT to aggressively begin marketing its System into the targeted food safety markets. Following Listeria certification, MIT's next goal is to achieve PTM certifications for the ID of E.coli and Salmonella as these three bacteria are responsible for most of the food bacterial contamination events worldwide. Since the AOAC RI Test Protocols should be similar, our goal is to have these in place later this year. Additional microbes will be certified as required by the market."

"This is a significant milestone for the Company and its MIT 1000 System. We can now broaden our focus to include sales in parallel with continued product development that together, should accelerate growth and profitability," stated Michael Brennan, MIT's Chairman and CEO.

About AOAC INTERNATIONAL and AOAC Research Institute

AOAC INTERNATIONAL is a globally recognized, independent, not-for-profit association founded in 1884. To attain its vision of "worldwide confidence in analytical results," AOAC serves analytical science communities by providing the tools and processes necessary to develop voluntary consensus standards or technical standards through stakeholder consensus and working groups in which the fit-for-purpose and method performance criteria are established and fully documented. The AOAC Research Institute is a subsidiary of AOAC INTERNATIONAL and maintains an up-to-the minute list of certified Performance Tested Methods which have been independently tested, rigorously evaluated and thoroughly reviewed by the AOAC Research Institute and its expert reviewers.

Source
Micro Imaging Technology