Request for information / Technologies for automated/rapid detection of food spoilage microbes and food pathogens

Technologies for automated/rapid detection of food spoilage microbes and food pathogens such as total aerobic bacteria, enterobacteria, coliforms, E. coli, Staphylococcus, Listeria, Salmonella, Lactic acid bacteria, and yeasts and molds. University of Eastern Finland (UEF) is a member of FOODNUTRI - Climate smart FOOD and NUTrition Research Infrastructure (FOODNUTRI), which will combine research expertise and facilities from the key institutes in Finland to form an internationally recognized top-level RI, increase excellence and competitiveness of Finnish food and nutrition research, and provide timely solutions to the acute challenges of the changing food system. The emphasis of FOODNUTRI is in the scientific breakthrough needed to build a sustainable food system ensuring nutrition, food security, and food safety. UEF/Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition will offer for the FIRI collaboration the platform combining the expertise for holistic studies related to food product development with special focus on foods that aim to improve human health and well-being. These include extensive tools ranging from in vitro and in vivo models, assessing microbiological quality and food safety of food ingredients, to extensive facilities to perform human intervention studies. Our Food Research group has a long experience and decent facilities in food microbiological quality assessment with traditional methods. However, the traditional methods such as plate count utilizing agar plates or Most Probable Number (MPN) utilizing dilutions of liquid broth growth are typically laborious and time-consuming. In our laboratory there is a need for rapid and convenient analysis methods for food pathogens, such as total aerobic bacteria, enterobacteria, coliforms, E. coli, Staphylococcus, Listeria, Salmonella, Lactic acid bacteria, and yeasts and molds. We enquire available technologies for automated/rapid detection of spoilage microbes and food pathogens. Detection should be quantitative rather than qualitative. The total price for the devices, including installation and training for routine operations, configuration, and maintenance, can be at maximum 60 000 €.