Thermo Fisher Scientific Opens Global Food Safety Response Center
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Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has opened a global food testing laboratory devoted solely to helping contain costly and life-threatening chemical contamination crises. The Food Safety Response Center, located in Dreieich, Germany, is equipped with equipment and staffed by world-class chemists who will mobilize to aid governments and businesses facing an unknown food safety threat involving chemical contaminants.
One recent threat, the melamine crisis in China, claimed the lives of at least six children, sickened nearly 300,000 and cost companies worldwide billions before it was contained.
“Identification and containment of food toxicity require a rapid response, otherwise the threat to human health and global commerce is magnified with each passing day,” said Marc N. Casper, president and chief executive officer of Thermo Fisher Scientific.
“Chemical contamination in food is a growing and costly threat, including risks from environmental contamination and naturally occurring toxins. Our Food Safety Response Center will be a valuable resource whenever food companies, governments and the people they serve are at risk. It’s an excellent example of how we enable our customers to make the world safer.”
When a chemical contamination event occurs, the Food Safety Response Center team will mobilize and set into motion a process for developing the methods, providing the workflow instructions and recommending the instrumentation, equipment and supplies necessary to give food safety professionals around the world the capability to rapidly detect the contaminant.
The Center is strategically located in close proximity to Europe’s food safety research institutions and houses Thermo Scientific analytical instruments to enable method development for chemical contamination in food. Regulators, contract testing labs and end users will be able to take the method developed by the Center and analyze the food matrix for the specific chemical contaminant.
One recent threat, the melamine crisis in China, claimed the lives of at least six children, sickened nearly 300,000 and cost companies worldwide billions before it was contained.
“Identification and containment of food toxicity require a rapid response, otherwise the threat to human health and global commerce is magnified with each passing day,” said Marc N. Casper, president and chief executive officer of Thermo Fisher Scientific.
“Chemical contamination in food is a growing and costly threat, including risks from environmental contamination and naturally occurring toxins. Our Food Safety Response Center will be a valuable resource whenever food companies, governments and the people they serve are at risk. It’s an excellent example of how we enable our customers to make the world safer.”
When a chemical contamination event occurs, the Food Safety Response Center team will mobilize and set into motion a process for developing the methods, providing the workflow instructions and recommending the instrumentation, equipment and supplies necessary to give food safety professionals around the world the capability to rapidly detect the contaminant.
The Center is strategically located in close proximity to Europe’s food safety research institutions and houses Thermo Scientific analytical instruments to enable method development for chemical contamination in food. Regulators, contract testing labs and end users will be able to take the method developed by the Center and analyze the food matrix for the specific chemical contaminant.
