Excerpted from a press release:
Ancera, a supply chain intelligence company, has released two new microbial detection tools designed to identify and quantify Clostridium perfringens and Total Viable Bacteria (TVB) in poultry, including those used in pet food. The tools can also be applicable to making pet food.
“There is a wide variety of pet food products, all of which undergo some degree of processing,” Arjun Ganesan, CEO of Ancera told Petfood Industry. “The TVB is a test for indicator organisms that can provide an assessment of process control and hygiene and can be used to manage their safety and quality assurance programs.”
Ancera’s tests address critical challenges within the poultry industry, spanning both live operations and processing, to help companies increase productivity, food safety, and interventional efficacy.
“PIPER is the only platform that combines molecular and classical microbiology capabilities with an operationally relevant time-to-result,” Ganesan said in a press release. “The Clostridium and TVB assays will double the number of novel assays on the PIPER platform. Retail customers see Clostridium perfringens as a productivity and animal welfare concern and our technology will help innovative poultry companies to take action and gain market share. TVB has significant implications for reducing microbial loads, susceptibility, and hygiene. We are excited to share these assays with testing partners as we develop the data science and software models for full commercialization.”
Ancera’s Clostridium assay specifically counts and monitors Clostridium perfringens, the causative agent of necrotic enteritis (NE) in poultry, providing the industry with an important new tool to manage NE risk. The assay will help integrators identify and monitor Clostridium load on their system, providing additional visibility of the impact on key production metrics and overall animal health. The monitoring method also has implications for assessing intervention effectiveness in certain animal welfare programs. When combined with Ancera’s Coccidia System Monitoring (CSM) product and advanced analytical capabilities, the combination of monitoring Coccidia oocysts and Clostridium Loading in near real-time provides a comprehensive view of the effects of gut health on production.
Ancera’s pen tests, conducted with Ozark Avian Research, showed a correlation between the number of Clostridium perfringens cells shed in feces with wound marks as well as increased body weight in birds. The effect of Clostridium in the poultry industry, even though birds may not show clinical symptoms can be significant, leading to inefficient feed utilization, reduced weight gain, decreased feed conversion ratio, and increased of the number of processing condemnations. Clinical disease can cause widespread mortality, resulting in economic and welfare risks. According to The National Library of Medicine, Clostridium contributing to a US$6 billion loss of revenue for the global poultry industry. Ancera’s new assay provides a reliable and rapid detection method for Clostridium bacteria throughout the herd, so integrators can make timely decisions.
Ancera also introduced the Total Viable Bacteria (TVB) assay, a non-enrichment, microbial quantitation assay focused on same-shift process improvement and quality control in the plant. This tool provides measurable microbial information that allows integrators to understand if their processes are working to reduce microbial load. Once fully commercialized, the technology will produce results within a single working shift, enabling real-time trend analysis and decision-making for improved compliance and hygiene. This represents a significant decrease from traditional 48-72 hour turnaround times, reducing compliance risk and recall risk.
The two new assays join Ancera’s portfolio of diagnostic tools, which feature Ancera’s monitoring products- Salmonella System Monitoring and Coccidia tracking, consisting of the first digital command center for poultry. The new assays will be made available in 2024 to a limited set of test customers to generate user feedback and accelerate a fully commercialized software product.
To lead the launch of these two new innovative diagnostic tools and the new capabilities of Ancera’s Command Center platform, Ancera has hired Troy Hatlevig as its VP of product. Troy’s supply chain and product development expertise will enable Ancera to deliver the tools customers need to achieve new levels of operational efficiency. Hatlevig, formerly VP of Supply Chain Product for Wayfair, joined the company in November of 2023 and is focused on developing the industry’s next set of innovative products that are in high demand.
