DuPont Nutrition and Health and Eurofins have made headway in probiotic testing by developing strain-level identification assays.
They are leading the way for industry-wide product integrity and label accuracy by using new technology to improve methods of strain identification.
Eurofins will employ DuPont’s polymerase-chain-reaction genotyping assays to identify probiotics at the strain level in both raw materials and finished products.
Several studies have found inaccuracies in probiotic labelling, including incorrect taxonomy, missing species and unlabelled species.
Wesley Morovic, scientist in the genomics and microbiome science group at DuPont, said the findings emphasise the necessity of reliable methods to determine the taxonomy of microbial populations in probiotic products.
“Because strain identification has not historically been required, little investment has been made to support the industry in doing so. DuPont is one of few manufacturers to share its genetic identification methods with customers and the public,” Morovic said.
DuPont is leading the industry toward label traceability by making its polymerase-chain-reaction genotyping available and working with Eurofins to develop accurate tests.
Eurofins business development manager Mehgan Styke said, “Many manufacturers understand that verifying raw materials and identifying finished products is as important as quantifying potency, for both label compliance and manufacturer confidence.”
“Until now, the tools for specific and accurate identification were either inaccessible or had yet to be developed; adding to the challenge are the nuances of probiotic products,” Styke said.
“With DuPont’s strain assays, Eurofins has become the first third-party laboratory to support identification to strain level, completing our portfolio of accurate testing for full label verification of potency, stability and identification.”
DuPont probiotics global marketing manager Megan DeStefano said the goal was to use science-driven solutions to bring a higher level of transparency to the probiotics market.
“We have worked closely with Eurofins to develop this service and are fully confident in their capabilities.”
Eurofins AgBio president Michael Drozd said these methods were at a cost and efficiency in line with the current less accurate and less specific methods.
“We are excited to leverage the collective knowledge of DuPont and Eurofins BioDiagnostics to bring the industry to a higher level of transparency.”