In addition to food and water testing, the microbiology lab tests and validates the safety of numerous other products, including:
- Dietary supplement certification
- Annual testing of products for microbial contamination and label claim validation
- Label claim validation
- Nucleic acid assays (RNA/DNA) - ex. used for GMO (genetically modified) detection
- Protein based assays (ELISA test) - ex. allergen presence and absence
- Probiotic confirmation - test for the yeast or bacterial strain which the products claims is included in the ingredients
- Microbial testing
- Tests for indicators of pathogen contamination as well as quality
- Types of products
- Functional foods
- Nutrition bars
- Capsules/tablets
- Raw materials (botanical extracts, seeds, parts of plant)
- Sanitizer/disinfectant efficacy (EPA DIS/TSS)
- Toy testing
- Private label - product comparison testing
- Molecular assays
- Real time quantitative PCR techniques for bacterial and viral pathogens
- Strain fingerprinting (i.e. ERIC PCR, BOX PCR, RFLP, REP PCR)
- Riboprinting
- 16s rRNA identification
- FAME analysis
- Custom primer design and validation
- Biotech and pharma
- Current initiative to play major role in assessment of pre-screening the activity of drugs and pre-cursors on target cells
- Involvement in nano-technology validation
- Nanomaterial toxicity and mutagenicity
- AMES testing
- High content screening via the Cellomics™ platform
- In vitro cellular toxicity
- Ex. Human lung, kidney, epithelial, liver cell lines
- Zebrafish toxicity
- In vivo developmental toxicological assessment
Additional Services
- Protocol development
- Municipal water treatment devices
- Sanitizing efficacy of clothes washers and dryers
- Household allergen removal by residential clothes washers
- Food handling glove bioburden
- Compost toilets
- EPA alternate test method verification
- Participant as a voluntary lab in method development for AOAC and other organizations
- Consultation in laboratory design and protocol validation
- Participation in professional societies through publications, presentations and representation on steering committees
