Micro Imaging Technology, Inc. announced that it will unveil the first commercial unit of its Rapid Microbial Identification System, the MIT 1000, at the Annual Meeting of the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) in Rhode Island -- July 22 through July 25, 2012.
Each year, the IAFP hosts an Annual Meeting, providing attendees with information on current and emerging food safety issues, the latest science, innovative solutions to new and recurring problems, and the opportunity to network with thousands of food safety professionals from around the globe. Held in various locations throughout North America, this meeting has grown over the years to become the leading food safety conference worldwide. The IAFP Annual Meeting will be held this year in Providence, Rhode Island and will be attended by more than 2,500 of the top industry, academic and governmental food safety professionals from six continents.
"The IAFP is the perfect venue to introduce the MIT 1000 to the food safety community," stated Jeff Nunez, MIT's Chairman and CEO. "This annual gathering has become the leading food safety conference worldwide and offers us the opportunity to showcase what we believe will one day be the leading diagnostic technology used in the industry."
The MIT 1000 is a stand-alone, optically-based, software driven system that can detect pathogenic bacteria and complete an identifying test in less than five (5) minutes for pennies per test. According to MIT's Chief Scientist, David Haavig, PhD, "In the US alone, around 76 million cases of food-borne illnesses, resulting in 325,000 hospitalizations and 5000 deaths, are estimated to occur each year. The leading cause of these illnesses and deaths are three main strains of bacteria: E. coli, Salmonella, and Listeria. Rapid identification of these disease-causing pathogens in food is critical to the health and safety of all consumers."
The AOAC Research Institute (AOAC RI) awarded the Company in June 2009, Performance Tested Methods SM (PTM) certification for the rapid identification of Listeria. The AOAC RI provides an independent third party evaluation and expert reviews of methods and will award PTM certification to methods that demonstrate performance levels equivalent or better than other certified bacteria identifying methods. The MIT System underwent hundreds of individual tests, including ruggedness and accuracy, to earn AOAC RI's certification for the identification of Listeria.