Microbiological Services

CBI offers a full-line of microbiological services including small and large-scale production of aerobic and anaerobic microorganisms as well as the ability to purify cellular components. We operate a fully functional Biosafety Level-3 (BSL-3) laboratory for pathogen work. All work is carried out under Good Laboratory Practices (GLP).

CBI has initiated a food safety-testing platform to detect pathogens in foods and production facilities. CBI has recently aligned with Richter International, Inc. (Richter International, Inc.), a world leader in food quality and safety research, to commercialize these services and technologies. CBI stands ready to provide complete customer support including, testing, research, consulting and data management services.

Food Safety and Quality

Currently at CBI we use PCR-based kits combined with state-of-the-art microbiological and molecular biological assays to improve the continued safety of the nation's food supply.

We can help answer two questions:

1. Is the background level of microorganisms in your food a cause for worry? 

2. Are there any specific pathogens present in your foodstuffs?

CBI can help ensure the safety, quality and nutritional value of your products. We offer microbiological analysis, consulting, auditing, training and custom research services. We can help you quickly determine the microbiological quality of products as they exist in the market nationwide. Our collaboration with Richter International, Inc.can help minimize sample collection expenses for these types of studies, without compromising sample integrity. We can also work with product retrieval services to handle all aspects of the project.

How CBI Can Help You

CBI can design and perform a personalized program to ensure your company or vendor's food safety, quality and Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) programs. CBI has developed sensitive microbiological methods coupled with PCR and TaqMan assays (ABI E. coli 0157 and Salmonella assays currently available) to rapidly identify potential pathogens, spoilage organisms, and many toxins in food matrix. CBI can provide testing on a regularly scheduled basis or as a single event. Please call 800-735-9224 or e-mail CBI for further information.

Organisms detected include the most common causes of food-borne illnesses: E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella sp., Listeria monocytogenes, Campylobacter sp., Yersinia enterocolitica, , Bacillus cereus, and Clostridium perfringens.

The same organisms can be detected by PCR-based assays with a 4-8 hour turn-around-time (if received by noon) on the ABI Prism 7700 Sequence Detector (TaqMan). This is a quantitative assay that will generate data on the numbers of organisms present in food sample.

Please call 800-735-9224 or e-mail for pricing; all prices quoted are for each organism tested.

Other standard microbiological identification and custom PCR-based assays not mentioned above available by quotation.