BCN Research Laboratories Improves Pathogen Detection With GENE-UP®

June 20, 2019

The food and beverage industry has a heavy focus on releasing high-quality products that are safe for consumers. This ensures that not only is public health positively affected, but also that a company remains competitive and financially stable.

With the same goal in mind, BCN Research Laboratories has been proving food, beverage and water pathogen testing services since 1988 to the food and beverage processing industry.

In an effort to keep up with increasing demands to provide their clients with faster and more reliable results, BCN decided to partner with bioMérieux, by implementing the GENE-UP® system. This cost-effective microbiology testing solution helped them to improve their laboratory workflows and provide better services to their clients. 

BCN Research Laboratories was founded in Rockford, Tennessee in 1988. Their focus is to provide safety testing on products found in the food and beverage processing industry.  As a growing business with increasing demands, BCN Research Laboratories’ goal is to utilize modern technology to ensure the strict maintenance of food and beverage regulations. They emphasize that clients are able to release safe products quickly and with consistent quality, ensuring brand reputation and consumer loyalty.

BCN realized a need for new technology that would reduce false positive results and quicken pathogen detection in their lab. 

In an effort to optimize the testing processes, Laboratory Supervisor Addy Villarreal, opted for GENE-UP®, an automated foodborne pathogen detection system from biomérieux. GENE-UP® was able to reduce analysis times and provide more reliable results, improving the productivity for BCN, as well as allowing them to ensure that their clients continually release safe products.

BCN needed to improve upon their traditional pathogen detection methods in order to maintain industry and regulatory standards. The first objective was to achieve better sample capacity for screening methods, while the second objective was that once they had this increased sample capacity, their workflow could be improved using previously existing personnel and laboratory space. BCN Laboratories looked into various options, however they were not flexible enough, would require too much work, and wouldn’t meet performance standards.

GENE-UP® is customizable for every lab’s needs. Therefore, it was possible for bioMérieux to provide the exact specifications that BCN needed. As GENE-UP® is a highly flexible system, reporting could be done with remote, web-based software. 

Regarding BCN’s objectives, GENE-UP® allowed the company to provide fast and reliable pathogen detection services at the same rate as during their busy season. Therefore, BCN didn’t need extra resources to continue effective laboratory workflows. The system was also easy to learn to use, provided reliable and consistent results, and came with simple software.

BCN recognized the benefits of GENE-UP® almost immediately after its implementation. The full evaluation period and implementation were conducted in a mere matter of weeks. They noticed that GENE-UP® provided better and more consistent results than their previous methods, as they could increase their sample capacity by 25%. 

BCN also had continual access to adaptable and easy to understand results. Using GENE-UP® actually required one less staff member, while they still were able to increase sample capacity by 1500 samples per week.

GENE-UP® is an innovative real-time PCR optimised for rapid and precisefood pathogen detection.

With an intuitive interface and simplified workflow, the GENE-UP® system helps food manufacturers quickly ensure product safety with rapid and validated testing.

Learn more about GENE-UP®

• Increase in sample throughput by 25% with minimal effect on hours
• An entire 96 sample plate could now be processed at a much more efficient speed.
• Using GENE-UP^® required one less tech on staff, while processing 1500 more samples per week.