Eurofins increases testing capacity to support food industry in responding to horsemeat scandal and offers tamper-proof Analytical Traceability™

Eurofins Scientific (EUFI.PA), the global leader in food and feed testing, announces that it has recently increased its testing capacity to detect horse meat in meat products by reallocating some of the equipment from its other lines of molecular testing. Eurofins currently has the largest capacity for authenticity and DNA analysis of any independent food testing service provider to address the ongoing horsemeat scandal in Europe. In addition, the Group is able to easily further ramp-up local capacities, given the scalable model of its large laboratories.

The Group's Competence Centre for DNA Analysis in Ebersberg, Germany was the first independent international laboratory that confirmed the contamination of beef with horse meat in Ireland¹ having been commissioned by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI)² to conduct independent confirmatory testing on meat samples at the end of December 2012. The Ebersberg laboratory is presently already rolling-out its competencies in DNA analyses to the rest of Eurofins' large laboratories in Europe to assist the food industry across the entire supply chain to respond swiftly and appropriately to the ongoing scandal.

Eurofins has been pioneering DNA-based analytical technologies for meat testing to supply industrial customers with innovative protocols to improve the safety and authenticity of their food products for over 10 years. This expertise was demonstrated during the outbreak of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in Europe in 2000³, when Eurofins was the first laboratory to release a DNA-test enabling the tracing of individual cow meat across the supply chain. In 2001, Eurofins conducted with the support of "Pays de la Loire" and "Bovi Loire" the first largest ever conducted cattle DNA traceability project on a total of 14,000 cows in the West of France using Eurofins TAG technology⁴. In 2005, Eurofins also developed a test to determine the authenticity of Aberdeen Angus Beef⁵. These examples illustrate Eurofins' unparalleled analytical and technological capability to support customers' efforts in ensuring the authenticity, accuracy and safety of their products. These capabilities can go well beyond the identification of one animal species, they can also be used to ensure individual breeds or even enable the exact traceability of individual animals throughout the food chain. In contrast to paper traceability, Analytical Traceability™ based on DNA and other markers cannot be forged.

Following intense investments in recent years in the latest technology and to ensure that it has the highest capacity, Eurofins is currently the largest private independent laboratory in the world for DNA sample testing, with more than 10,000 samples being tested every day in its laboratories. Since the start of the horse meat crisis, Eurofins has already tested thousands of processed meat samples and continues to scale up its capacity by allocating more of its DNA testing resources to this specific type of samples. The Group has the capacity to efficiently handle the marked increase in daily volume of samples, whilst maintaining the accuracy and reliability of its analyses. State-of-the-art Real-Time PCR and sequencing technology allow Eurofins to deliver validated results within 48 hours. Furthermore, for more urgent analyses, Eurofins also has the capability to provide indicative results within 24 hours. Testing can also be done on the same sample for a range of other species which could be present in meat or for residues of pharmaceutical or other chemicals or heavy metals.

Eurofins is also developing new protocols based on the latest innovation in sequencing technologies (Next Generation sequencing) which should lead to a significant increase in its DNA-testing capacity and significantly reduce the cost per analysis allowing a more systematic authenticity testing for each batch of meat, as well as of many other food products, economically viable. This innovative technology will introduce a new paradigm for untargeted testing to detect all present contaminants, instead of the current practice of testing for a predetermined list of contaminants. 

1. Irish Times 17 January, 2013 "DNA profiling leaves no room for beefs"
2. http://www.fsai.ie/news_centre/oireachtas_05.02.2013.html
3. Eurofins Press Release dated 22 November 2000
4. Eurofins Press Release dated 10 December 2001

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Notes for the editor:

Eurofins - a global leader in bio-analysis

Eurofins Scientific is the world leader in food and pharmaceutical products testing. It is also number one in the world in the field of environmental laboratory services and one of the global market leaders in agroscience, genomics, discovery pharmacology and central laboratory services.

With over 13,000 staff in more than 170 laboratories across 34 countries, Eurofins offers a portfolio of over 100,000 reliable analytical methods for evaluating the safety, identity, composition, authenticity, origin and purity of biological substances and products. The Group provides its customers with high-quality services, accurate results in time and expert advice by its highly qualified staff.

Eurofins is committed to pursuing its dynamic growth strategy by expanding both its technology portfolio and its geographic reach. Through R&D and acquisitions, the Group draws on the latest developments in the field of biotechnology and analytical chemistry to offer its clients unique analytical solutions and the most comprehensive range of testing methods.

As one of the most innovative and quality oriented international players in its industry, Eurofins is ideally positioned to support its clients' increasingly stringent quality and safety standards and the expanding demands of regulatory authorities around the world.

The shares of Eurofins Scientific are listed on the Euronext Paris Stock Exchange (ISIN FR0000038259, Reuters EUFI.PA, Bloomberg ERF FP).

Important disclaimer:

This press release contains forward-looking statements and estimates that involve risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements and estimates contained herein represent the judgement of Eurofins Scientific’ management as of the date of this release. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees for future performance, and the forward-looking events discussed in this release may not occur. Eurofins Scientific disclaims any intent or obligation to update any of these forward-looking statements and estimates. All statements and estimates are made based on the data available to the Company as of the date of publication, but no guarantee can be made as to their validity.