SDIX Food Pathogen Test Gains Third-Party Validation For European Markets

NEWARK, Del.–Strategic Diagnostics Inc., now doing business as SDIX (Nasdaq: SDIX), a leading provider of biotechnology-based products and services for a broad range of life science, biotechnology, diagnostic, and food safety applications, today announced its RapidChek® SELECT™ Salmonella test system has received AFNOR VALIDATION certification and validation as an alternative method for detecting Salmonella within 24 hours from various samples – including meat, seafood, vegetables, eggs, dairy, feed, and environmental.

“SDIX’s investment in obtaining the AFNOR VALIDATION demonstrates our commitment to serving the international food pathogen testing markets. This certification again highlights the technical capabilities of the RapidChek SELECT Salmonella system which SDIX can translate into financial advantages for the food industry.”

This validation enables European customers who are required to follow ISO testing methods to confidently use RapidChek SELECT Salmonella, thereby benefiting from its ability to rapidly and accurately detect this dangerous food pathogen.

The AFNOR VALIDATION process is an internationally recognized European third party certification that validates alternative food testing methods according to the EN ISO 16140 protocol. The AFNOR VALIDATION mark certifies that a multi-phase validation study, by approved expert laboratories approved for AFNOR Certification, has demonstrated equivalent results between the RapidChek SELECT Salmonella system and the ISO standardized method.

The general conditions under which this mark is granted meet all of the requirements of European regulation (EC) 2073/2005 relating to the microbiological criteria applicable to foodstuffs, thereby giving it European recognition.

The RapidChek® SELECT system is an easy, accurate, flexible, and rapid food pathogen detection technology. It combines the simplicity of lateral flow test strips with SDIX’s proprietary, patented phage-based enrichment and immuno-detection tools to significantly enhance both specificity and sensitivity of testing and enable improved pathogen detection.

Tim Lawruk, SDIX Food Safety Marketing Manager, said, “Improving productivity and accuracy of tests is a major goal for effective global food testing. This certification and the AFNOR mark demonstrate SDIX’s commitment to provide the global food market with superior, complete pathogen testing solutions that provide rapid and accurate results. This study represents independent, empirical data and validation to support these benefits for our customers as they continue their efforts to provide safe food to European consumers.”

Colin LeGood, SDIX Manager of Distribution and Business Development for Europe and Asia Pacific, said, “SDIX’s investment in obtaining the AFNOR VALIDATION demonstrates our commitment to serving the international food pathogen testing markets. This certification again highlights the technical capabilities of the RapidChek SELECT Salmonella system which SDIX can translate into financial advantages for the food industry.”

For more information about the RapidChek SELECT Salmonella system, visit https://www.sdix.com/foodsafety.htm.

About AFNOR Certification and the AFNOR VALIDATION mark

AFNOR Certification, a subsidiary of AFNOR Group, is a certifying body operating according to the European standard EN 45011. The AFNOR VALIDATION mark, owned by AFNOR Group, is granted by AFNOR Certification. AFNOR VALIDATION has been registered as a European collective mark since 2005.

The aim of AFNOR VALIDATION is to certify the analytical effectiveness of alternative methods. This is a third party certification governed by certification rules, and based on a validation study done in accordance with EN ISO 16140 protocol associated to periodic controls.

About SDIX (www.sdix.com)

SDIX is a biotechnology company, expert at creating advantage by providing a broad range of quality, innovative, and effective immuno-solutions to the Pharmaceutical, Biotechnology, Diagnostics, and Food Safety markets. For nearly 20 years, SDIX has developed antibodies which advance its customers’ immuno-based work – reducing time, labor, and costs while increasing accuracy and reliability of results.

SDIX offers a full suite of integrated immuno-solution capabilities including assay design, development, and production. In life science markets, SDIX capabilities are being used to help discover the mechanisms of disease, facilitate the development of new drugs, and provide mechanisms for rapid diagnosis.

This news release may contain forward-looking statements reflecting SDIX’s current expectations. When used in this press release, words like “anticipate”, “could”, “enable”, “estimate”, “intend”, “expect”, “believe”, “potential”, “will”, “should”, “project”, “plan” and similar expressions as they relate to SDIX are intended to identify said forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that all forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual results to differ from those anticipated by SDIX at this time. Such risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, changes in demand for products, the application of our technologies to various uses, delays in product development, delays in market acceptance of new products, retention of customers and employees, adequate supply of raw materials, inability to obtain or delays in obtaining fourth party or required government approvals, the ability to meet increased market demand, competition, protection of intellectual property, non-infringement of intellectual property, seasonality, and other factors more fully described in SDIX’s public filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.