System offers new tool for sanitation monitoring

Kikkoman’s new LuciPac A3 Sanitation System, distributed by Weber Scientific, produces a test result an order of magnitude or higher than competitive products, according to the company.

Application of bioluminescence for monitoring sanitation and hygiene is well established in the global food, beverage and environmental industries as a valuable tool for measuring the efficacy of cleaning and sanitation of facility environments and equipment, and for providing a means to quickly validate that effective cleaning and sanitation have occurred.

All living organisms contain adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Bioluminescent systems measure the presence of ATP in a sample using an enzyme system. This process will emit light if ATP is present. Systems are calibrated using a relative light unit (RLU), which equate to thresholds for pass (clean) or fail (dirty).

However, ATP can be unstable and decompose into monophosphate (AMP) or diphosphate (ADP). This means conventional systems that test for ATP alone may fail to find the true presence of contamination and may produce false negatives, according to Weber. Until now all bioluminescent systems only measured the presence of ATP. The patented A3 system measures all three.

“With the Kikkoman A3 System you can find what others can’t,” said Sharon Wilson, vice president of marketing at Weber Scientific. “This revolutionary technology leaves residue with no place to hide.”

Independent testing confirms that the A3 system technology detects food residues left behind at far lower levels than other tests on the market, Weber said. This ensures better surface sanitation and supports a more effective sanitation program that reduces the presence of resident organisms and the risks from food pathogens. A white paper is available upon request.

For data analysis the system comes with a software program with programmable features: 100 test plans, 200 user IDs, 251 locations per test plan and 5,000 test locations.