STRENGTHENING FOOD SAFETY CONTROL WITH THE INVISCREEN SALMONELLA SPP SOLUTION

Food poisoning has a very serious impact on a business's finances and reputation. In Vietnam, most food poisoning outbreaks are linked to Salmonella. Investing in an AOAC-standard Salmonella control solution such as InviScreen® Salmonella spp (Invitek) is necessary to help businesses build confidence in themselves and trust with their customers.

FOOD POISONING IN VUNG TAU: A WAKE-UP CALL

The food poisoning outbreak caused by banh mi in Vung Tau in November 2024, which hospitalized 379 people, has been the focus of public attention. The cause was identified as Salmonella contamination in the meat and pate. The Vung Tau incident was not the first: in Vietnam, there have been quite a few large-scale food poisoning cases caused by Salmonella bacteria ¹ ⁴ ⁵:

Time	Location	Cause	Reported consequences
Nov 2024	Vung Tau	Contamination with Salmonella spp and E. coli in banh mi	379 people hospitalized
May 2024	Dong Nai	Contamination with Salmonella spp and E. coli in banh mi	568 people hospitalized
Nov 2022	Nha Trang	Contamination with Salmonella spp, B. cereus and E. coli in fried chicken wings	665 people hospitalized, 1 death

This sounds an alarm about quality control processes at food manufacturing businesses. Businesses should not neglect food microbiological testing, as the consequences can be very serious.

ISSUES IN FOOD MICROBIOLOGICAL TESTING IN VIETNAM

Currently in Vietnam, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has issued regulations on food microbiological control in a decision (46/2007/QD-BYT) and in a national technical regulation (QCVN 8-3:2012/BYT). However, there is no regulation requiring food microbiological test kits to be certified by reputable international organizations such as AOAC, AFNOR, MicroVal, Nordval, ...

As a result, many food microbiological test kits are in use without clear evidence of their product quality. Using poor-quality products can lead to very serious consequences, such as:

Harm to Public Health

Inaccurate results can lead to missing production batches contaminated with dangerous bacteria such as Salmonella, Listeria, Campylobacter. This can lead to serious poisoning outbreaks.

Salmonella bacteria are divided into 2 main groups: typhoidal Salmonella and non-typhoidal Salmonella. According to WHO estimates, non-typhoidal Salmonella causes >93 million cases of acute gastroenteritis and 155,000 deaths each year. About 85% of these cases are foodborne, showing that Salmonella has a significant impact on public health and the economy ⁶.

Damage to Business Reputation

Food poisoning outbreaks can have an extremely serious impact on a business's reputation and operations, and can even lead to bankruptcy. In the next section, we illustrate the damage through notorious Salmonella food poisoning outbreaks in the US.

NOTORIOUS SALMONELLA POISONING OUTBREAKS

Figure 1: Statistics on notorious Salmonella poisoning outbreaks.

PCA Peanut Butter (2009)

In 2009, Salmonella contamination in peanut butter produced by Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) infected 714 people and caused 9 deaths. The incident led to one of the largest recalls in the history of the US food industry, with 3600 products recalled.

PCA was accused of knowingly ignoring warnings about Salmonella in its products and knowingly distributing Salmonella-contaminated goods to the market. As a result, PCA went bankrupt and its management faced criminal charges, with PCA's CEO sentenced to 28 years in prison in 2015.

Cargrill Ground Turkey (2011)

In 2011, a Salmonella outbreak linked to turkey meat infected 136 people in 34 states and caused 1 death. Cargill voluntarily recalled 13.6 million kg of ground turkey due to suspected contamination with Salmonella heidelberg, an antibiotic-resistant strain.

As a result, Cargrill had to spend millions of USD on the recall while also improving food safety control processes at its processing facilities.

Foster Farms Chicken (2013)

In 2013, a Salmonella outbreak linked to chicken infected 634 people in 29 states and Puerto Rico. Foster Farms voluntarily recalled all of its branded products (>450 tons), then invested in improving its sanitation systems and food safety production processes. Although there were no deaths, the incident caused public concern about the safety of Foster Farms chicken products.

Cucumbers Imported from Mexico (2015)

In 2015, a Salmonella outbreak linked to cucumbers imported from Mexico infected 907 people in 40 states, hospitalized more than 200, and caused 1 death. The importer, Andrew & Williamson Fresh Produce, had to conduct 2 major recalls, causing significant financial and reputational damage to the company.

THE INVISCREEN SALMONELLA SPP TESTING SOLUTION

Figure 2: InviScreen® Salmonella spp. Detection Kit

From the issues above, it is clear that the quality of food microbiological test kits plays a tremendous role in a business's sustainable growth. Microbiological testing should be seen as part of marketing and invested in systematically. To achieve this, a test kit with reputable standards certification, such as AOAC, is indispensable.

Meets AOAC Standards

Fortunately, InviScreen® Salmonella spp (Invitek Diagnostics) is exactly such a solution: the product has been granted AOAC RI PTM 102401 certification (AOAC certification of test method performance).

When using InviScreen® Salmonella spp (Invitek Diagnostics), businesses not only gain peace of mind about their production batches but can also use their rigorous microbiological control process as a marketing campaign that helps strengthen consumer trust.

Results in 10 Hours

InviScreen® Salmonella spp combines a rapid lysis reagent (included) that prepares DNA within 20 minutes with real-time PCR technology for fast results. The kit has been validated by AOAC for use with an 8-hour pre-enrichment step, significantly shorter than other solutions, thereby shortening the entire workflow, from sample to result in 10 hours.

Wide Range of Sample Matrices

InviScreen® Salmonella spp (Invitek Diagnostics) is compatible with many different sample matrices, including meat, poultry, dairy, and egg products, fresh produce, and fruit.

Accurate Results

InviScreen® Salmonella spp (Invitek Diagnostics) has a sensitivity of 1 CFU/25 grams, and its specificity has been tested on >100 Salmonella serotypes and 30 non-Salmonella species.

PROTECT YOUR BUSINESS WITH A STANDARDS-COMPLIANT TESTING SOLUTION

Salmonella food poisoning outbreaks not only harm public health but also greatly affect business reputation. Investing systematically in food microbiological control not only gives businesses peace of mind but can also serve as an effective marketing strategy.

InviScreen® Salmonella spp (Invitek Diagnostics) is an AOAC-certified product that enables detection of Salmonella spp by real-time PCR with a workflow significantly shorter than most other solutions: from sample to result in 10 hours.

Figure 3: Comparison of InviScreen® Salmonella spp (Invitek Diagnostics) with other products.

REFERENCES

1. Bui Toan, Le Phuong, & Le Nga. (2022, November 21). Ischool Nha Trang students poisoned by Salmonella infection [In Vietnamese]. VnExpress.

2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (n.d.). Salmonella Outbreak Investigations. Retrieved December 2, 2024.

3. InviTek. (n.d.). InviScreen® Salmonella spp. Detection Kit. Retrieved December 2, 2024.

4. Phuoc Tuan. (2024, May 7). Salmonella and E. coli bacteria were the culprits behind the poisoning of 568 people in Dong Nai [In Vietnamese]. VnExpress.

5. Truong Ha. (2024, November 30). Salmonella-contaminated meat and pate caused food poisoning in more than 300 people who ate banh mi [In Vietnamese]. VnExpress.

6. World Health Organization. (2016). Interventions for the control of non-typhoidal Salmonella spp. in beef and pork: meeting report and systematic review. World Health Organization.