November 6, 2007

Neogen obtains USDA approval to manufacture Campylobacter medium

Neogen Corporation has obtained a USDA license to manufacture a new culture medium called Campy-Cefex to differentiate different Campylobacter pathogens.

According to the company, Campy-Cefex provides a quicker and simpler way to detect and differentiate the pathogens Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli from other less harmful members of the Campylobacter species.

Campy-Cefex is patented by the USDA's Agricultural Research Service microbiologist Norman Stern, with the ARS Poultry Microbiological Safety Research Unit in Athens, Ga.

The patented formulation uses the antibiotics cycloheximide and cefoperazone, and has been proven by the USDA to both grow Campylobacter in a culture and repress the growth of most other microorganisms.

Consequently, it was determined that the additional antibiotics previously used with other Campylobacter media were not needed.

Ed Bradley, Neogen's vice president of Food Safety, said the company is pleased to have been chosen to manufacture the medium that the USDA has shown to provide superior performance in detecting the most dangerous strains of Campylobacter

The product provides confidence to the poultry products of the company's customers in making sure they would be as safe as they could be, he said.

Neogen in late August announced it has acquired Kane Enterprises, a manufacturer of animal health products. The company, with a network of 200 distributors in the US and Canada, recorded revenues of US$6 million last year.