Fumonisin Test Designed for the Pet Food Industry

Charm Sciences is proud to announce the release of our new Fumonisin test strip, specifically designed for the pet food sector, ROSA FAST5-X Fumonisin Quantitative Test (FUMQ-FAST5-X). 

The Pet Food industry proactively monitors mycotoxin levels in grains and raw materials used in pet food manufacturing to prevent contamination in the finished product. This assessment has outlined the need for dependable mycotoxin test kits specific to the Pet Food industry. Charm Sciences has developed the FUMQ-FAST5-X strip, which tests for the presence of fumonisins (B1, B2, and B3) at an action level of 10 parts per million (ppm). 

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published a Guidance for Industry document in 2001, with recommendations for fumonisins. The document stipulates domestic pet food must be produced and manufactured according to human-grade standards and not exceed 10 ppm fumonisins. These levels are based on studies that demonstrated that fumonisin levels above these levels could lead to neural dysfunction, abnormal behavior, liver damage, loss of movement control, appetite, weakness, depression, blindness, and brain damage. These levels do not apply to equine, where the guidance level is 5 ppm fumonisins. 

The FUMQ-FAST5-X strip detects 10 ppm fumonisins with a single dilution that allows the pet food sector to make immediate decisions on the acceptance or rejection of incoming raw products at the point of receipt. The development of the FUMQ-FAST5-X test is an example of Charm’s commitment to our customer’s immediate needs and our resolve to serve the requirement of the industries in which we work. 

Charm Sciences’ commitment to our customers is one of the reasons we maintain our high level of customer loyalty and satisfaction. For over forty years, we have been working to create custom solutions to the industry’s biggest problems. We do not provide a product; we provide solutions for our customers. And if we do not have a ready-to-use option, we can develop one. At Charm, we do not consider our clients as customers; we consider them partners. 

To learn more, follow Charm Sciences on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn. 

About Charm Sciences

Established in 1978 in Greater Boston, Charm Sciences helps protect consumers, manufacturers, and global brands from a variety of issues through the development of food safety, water quality, and environmental diagnostics tests and equipment. Selling directly and through its network of distributors, Charm’s products serve the dairy, feed and grain, food and beverage, water, healthcare, environmental, and industrial markets in more than 100 countries around the globe.

Charm/Zymo DNA/RNA Swab Tube Continues to Soar!

Charm Sciences partnered with Zymo Research to create a sampling swab specifically designed for work in space. The Charm/Zymo DNA/RNA Swab Tubes were developed to withstand g-forces of liftoff and reentry and provide ambient shelf stability. They continue to remain in service. To date, the swab has launched on three Russian Soyuz vehicles (61S, 62S, and 64S) and three SpaceX vehicles (SpaceX Crew-1, SpaceX-22 Cargo, SpaceX-23 Cargo).

The DNA/RNA swab is currently positioned to launch on SpaceX Crew-3 (10/30/2021) then again on SpaceX-24 Cargo (12/21/2021).

The space center uses the swabs to understand how the astronaut’s diet and space environment affects intestinal health, immune functions, and the intestinal microbiome. The research center asked Charm Sciences and Zymo Research to create the swab to meet the rigorous usage conditions of space and maximize sample integrity to facilitate health knowledge for astronauts and humankind.

“For over 40 years, Charm Sciences has worked with our partners to create innovative solutions to their most complex problems,” said Robert J. Markovsky, President. “Our commitment to our customer’s complete satisfaction has given rise to products that surpass expectations and reset the bar for the industries we serve. Not only are our products on every continent and over ninety countries, but now we are moving into the next horizon, space.”

About Charm Sciences

Established in 1978 in Greater Boston, Charm Sciences helps protect consumers, manufacturers, and global brands from a variety of issues through the development of food safety, water quality, and environmental diagnostics tests and equipment. Selling directly and through its network of distributors, Charm’s products serve the dairy, feed and grain, food and beverage, water, healthcare, environmental, and industrial markets in more than 100 countries around the globe.

FGIS Promotes Strict Testing Standards with Charm’s AFQ-WETS5 Test

The Federal Grain Inspection Service (FGIS) first awarded Charm Sciences a five-year contract to promote their strict testing standards with our ROSA WET-S5 Aflatoxin Quantitative Test. This lateral flow test was first approved in 2014, again in 2017, and recently reapproved for detecting aflatoxin in barley, brown rice, corn, DDG, DDGS, hominy, sorghum, soybeans, and wheat.

The certification marks the third approval of our AFQ-WETS5 test and aids FGIS to maintain its core initiatives as listed on the official FGIS Website:

• Establishes and maintains official U.S. grain standards for barley, canola, corn, flaxseed, oats, rye, sorghum, soybeans, sunflower seed, triticale, wheat, mixed grain, rice, and pulses.
• Inspects and weighs grain and related products for domestic and export trade.
• Establishes methods and procedures and approves equipment for the official inspection and weighing of grain.
• Supervises the official grain inspection and weighing system. The official system is a network of FGIS field offices and State and private grain inspection and weighing agencies across the nation that FGIS authorizes to provide official inspection and weighing services.
• Provides international services and outreach programs and protects the integrity of the official inspection system and the market at large to ensure markets for grain and related products are fair and transparent.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR OUR CUSTOMERS

The Charm EZ-M System has FGIS approval for Aflatoxin, Deoxynivalenol (Vomitoxin or DON), Fumonisin, Ochratoxin A, and Zearalenone. This is important because it guarantees that the sensitivity of our tests will comply with FGIS standards, which protects your customers and your brand. Your brand is your reputation, and a recall due to mycotoxin can be devastating. Charm understands the importance of brand recognition. That is why our system complies with the most critical portion of the FGIS Approval Process.

To comply, 95% of all tests and replicates need to be within the established range set by the FGIS.

Charm Sciences Collaborates with AAA to Verify Sanitation Standards

Charm’s ATP monitoring system will help verify the cleanliness of hotel facilities.

Charm is proud to announce a collaboration with AAA. Together we will deliver superior sanitation monitoring and verify standards of cleanliness in the hotel industry.

The COVID-19 pandemic is challenging hotels to uphold stricter sanitation and cleaning procedures. In response, hotels are adopting new protocols. However, according to AAA research, 76% of consumers surveyed would be disappointed if a third-party inspection did not evaluate the sanitation of high-touch areas in a hotel.

Charm has trained and certified AAA inspectors to conduct ATP surface testing in hotels to help quantify and measure cleaning efforts. “With the new addition of surface testing, these properties will now also be recognized as Inspected Clean,” said Paula Twidale, Senior Vice President, AAA Travel. 

The new Inspected Clean criteria add an objective, scientific validation that the hotel’s cleaning protocols are effective by detecting ATP. ATP (adenosine triphosphate) is an energy-carrying molecule found in all living cells. Most food sources, human skin cells, bacteria, yeast, mold, and biological material found in respiratory droplets contain ATP. Charm Sciences manufactures a bioluminescent test called PocketSwab Plus, to detect ATP as an indicator of surface cleanliness.

AAA inspectors will use the PocketSwab Plus ATP test to swab eight high-touch surfaces. Surfaces may include guest room door handles, tv remotes, or sink faucet handles. In just five seconds, Charm’s novaLUM II-X system detects even the lowest levels of ATP contamination.

With the addition of Charm Sciences’ ATP surface testing to the AAA Diamond Program, AAA will recognize hotels that pass their unannounced inspection as Inspected Clean. Charm Sciences’ ATP monitoring system will help the hospitality industry to verify, quantify, and improve the cleanliness of their facilities.

To learn more, follow Charm Sciences on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn. 

ABOUT CHARM SCIENCES

Established in 1978 in Greater Boston, Charm Sciences helps protect consumers, manufacturers, and global brands from a variety of issues through the development of food safety, water quality, and environmental diagnostics tests and equipment. Selling directly and through its network of distributors, Charm’s products serve the dairy, feed and grain, food and beverage, water, healthcare, environmental, and industrial markets in more than 100 countries around the globe.

Introducing the Charm Myco Case for Portable Mycotoxin Testing

Charm Sciences, Inc., is pleased to introduce the Charm Myco Case, which makes it easy to run any of Charm’s mycotoxin tests from any location, with little setup. The customizable Myco Case neatly holds everything needed to run Charm’s trusted Rapid One Step Assay (ROSA) mycotoxin tests: a Charm EZ-M system, ROSA Quad Incubator, printer, Bluetooth Adapter, centrifuge, pipettes, graduated cylinder, and all disposable supplies needed to run the test. 

“The Charm Myco Case allows for on-the-go testing at a satellite facility, rail yard, or on a harvester in the field,” said Karen Carmichael, Territory Account Manager at Charm Sciences. “The data, including the results and GPS coordinates, can be sent using the Bluetooth adapter to a centralized office via a smartphone. Combining this versatile testing system with Charm Science’s water-based extraction technology makes mycotoxin testing even simpler and more user-friendly by providing actual values for real-time decision making.”

Charm’s ROSA tests are available to detect aflatoxin, DON (vomitoxin), fumonisin, ochratoxin, T-2/HT-2 toxins, and zearalenone. The tests utilize Charm’s patented lateral flow technology to rapidly provide quantitative results, and they can all be read and recorded using the all-in-one Charm EZ-M system.

About Charm Sciences

Established in 1978 in Greater Boston, Charm Sciences helps protect consumers, manufacturers, and global brands from a variety of issues through the development of food safety, water quality, and environmental diagnostics tests and equipment. Selling directly and through its network of distributors, Charm’s products serve the dairy, feed and grain, food and beverage, water, healthcare, environmental, and industrial markets in more than 100 countries around the globe.

USDA-FGIS Approves Charm Sciences’ Renewal of Zearalenone Mycotoxin Test

Charm Sciences, Inc. announces that the United States Department of Agriculture’s Federal Grain Inspection Service (USDA-FGIS) has renewed the usage of the ROSA WET-S5 Zearalenone Quantitative Test. USDA-FGIS operates and oversees official grain inspection services throughout the United States and will use the ZEARQ-WETS5 test for official zearalenone testing. This 5-minute lateral flow test was first approved in 2017 and is reapproved for the detection of zearalenone in 5 commodities, including barley, corn, DDGS, sorghum, and wheat.

“Charm Sciences’ reapproval of the ROSA WET-S5 Zearalenone Quantitative Test is a benefit to the grain industry. It detects zearalenone in grains using Water Extraction Technology (WET) with the same extract as other Charm WET tests,” stated Mark Tess, Ph.D., Mycotoxin Product Manager at Charm. “As zearalenone was a concern in corn last year, more locations are able to screen for this toxin using our 5-minute water-based extraction to prevent zearalenone from entering by-products like corn gluten meal.”

The ZEARQ-WETS5 test utilizes Charm’s patented Rapid One Step Assay (ROSA) technology to extract zearalenone from the sample without organic solvents. Like all of Charm’s ROSA mycotoxin tests, the ZEARQ-WETS5 test can be read and recorded using the all-in-one Charm EZ-M System. The Charm EZ-M System allows incubation and analysis with the same equipment and is robust enough that tests can be run at the point of receiving.

About Charm Sciences

Established in 1978 in Greater Boston, Charm Sciences helps protect consumers, manufacturers, and global brands from a variety of issues through the development of food safety, water quality, and environmental diagnostics tests and equipment. Selling directly and through its network of distributors, Charm’s products serve the dairy, feed and grain, food and beverage, water, healthcare, environmental, and industrial markets in more than 100 countries around the globe.

USDA-FGIS Approves Renewal and Awards 5-Year Contract for Aflatoxin Test

Charm Sciences, Inc. announces that the United States Department of Agriculture’s Federal Grain Inspection Service (USDA-FGIS) has renewed the usage of the ROSA WET-S5 Aflatoxin Quantitative Test. This lateral flow test was first approved in 2014, again in 2017, and is reapproved for the detection of aflatoxin in barley, brown rice, corn, DDG, DDGS, hominy, sorghum, soybeans, and wheat.

“Charm Sciences is pleased to announce the reapproval of the ROSA WET-S5 Aflatoxin Quantitative Test,” stated Mark Tess, Ph.D., Mycotoxin Product Manager at Charm. “The certification marks the third approval of this test kit, which shows that the market favors water-based testing and continued success of lateral flow technology to test for aflatoxin.”

USDA-FGIS also awarded Charm a five-year contract to use the AFQ-WETS5 test to monitor aflatoxin in grains. USDA-FGIS operates and oversees official grain inspection services throughout the United States and will use the AFQ-WETS5 test for official aflatoxin testing. USDA-FGIS used the AFQ-WETS5 test for aflatoxin over the last five years as well.

“Charm Sciences is excited to be awarded the aflatoxin contract for another five years to test grains in the FGIS’s testing program,” said Dr. Tess. “The AFQ-WETS5 test is FGIS approved for 9 commodities and the 5-minute incubation time allows for rapid measurement to meet the demands of the program.”

The AFQ-WETS5 test utilizes Charm’s patented Rapid One Step Assay (ROSA) technology to extract aflatoxin from the sample without organic solvents. Like all of Charm’s ROSA mycotoxin tests, the AFQ-WETS5 test can be read and recorded using the all-in-one Charm EZ-M System. The Charm EZ-M System allows incubation and analysis with the same equipment and is robust enough that tests can be run at the point of receiving.

About Charm Sciences

Established in 1978 in Greater Boston, Charm Sciences helps protect consumers, manufacturers, and global brands from a variety of issues through the development of food safety, water quality, and environmental diagnostics tests and equipment. Selling directly and through its network of distributors, Charm’s products serve the dairy, feed and grain, food and beverage, water, healthcare, environmental, and industrial markets in more than 100 countries around the globe.