Press Release
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.