Randox

As a biochemistry researcher, Dr. Peter FitzGerald is driven by a desire to enhance diagnostic technologies and apply those technologies to improve critical decision making across a range of key sectors. To materialise this vision, he founded Randox, a company that was initially solely focused on human healthcare, with a dedicated team of research scientists and engineers to develop cutting-edge diagnostics in critical areas of health, including diabetes, stroke, and Alzheimer’s disease. Today, the company’s commitment to innovation utilises a common technology base to diversify into another key area of healthcare-food safety. Randox Food Diagnostics works to ensure food producers have access to the latest and most comprehensive diagnostic technologies to ensure food safety and satisfy consumer demand.

The company’s patented Randox Biochip Array Technology can provide screening of up to 54 food samples providing results for drug residues and toxins within 3 hours, saving both time and money for clients. The Randox Biochip has revolutionised food screening across a range of food industries including meat, seafood, honey, dairy and cereals by facilitating simultaneous detection of multiple drug residues or pathogens including antibiotic, anti-parasitic, anti-inflammatory, growth promoter, and mycotoxin diagnostics.

“With faster, simpler and more efficient testing, Randox Biochip increases efficiency within producer processes and, within the market place, increases consumer confidence, a reason why leading food producers, as well as hospitals, laboratories, toxicology centres, and health clinics, utilise Randox products,” says FitzGerald, Founder and MD of Randox Laboratories.

In a recent implementation, Randox worked with the largest company in the UK that provides bulk milk payment testing services to milk purchasers across Great Britain. The Randox Infiniplex test array, which is a biochip array for milk testing, allows purchasers to carry out multiple assays simultaneously using a single sample. “Our Infiniplex array greatly differs from other milk residue tests as it uses multiplexing technology that reduces our customers testing time to four hours and requires a small sample volume (25μl),” says Kerrie McAuley, VP of Marketing, Randox Food Diagnostics. In fact, when the milk sample failed a prior screening test from Randox competitors, the InfiniPlex test proved effective in further investigating the sample to determine the cause of failure.

Randox helps clients overcome the lack of knowledge of harmful particles and emphasises on the importance of testing within the food industry. “By attending scientific meetings and events, we gain the knowledge to educate our customers on the importance of food safety testing and its future, so that customers can prepare to implement changes in advance of new regulations/food adulteration,” says McAuley. The company also stays abreast with the continuously changing food safety landscape on a global scale to understand the market trends and adapt to changes.

Continuing on its mission of providing innovative diagnostic solutions, Randox is set to introduce new arrays in food safety as well as healthcare. The company is working on pesticides arrays for milk and honey, which are being developed to fulfil a global need to test for harmful pesticide residues in food for human consumption. Similarly, Randox is planning to introduce its Bovine Pathogen Array to branch out into animal health and wellbeing screening in milk for viruses such as bovine diarrhoea. “Our Bovine Pathogen Array can differentiate Infected versus Vaccinated Animals (DIVA), meaning it can distinguish if the animal has contracted the virus naturally or has been treated to prevent the disease,” says McAuley. What is more, the company’s milk product range includes the Infiniplex Array which can screen for over 130 contaminants in a single raw milk sample and distinguish which brand of Veterinary drugs have been administered at farm level by singling out specific compounds which would make up that drug. This is a new level of surveillance for milk customers to ensure their quality control at the farm level.