Charm Tests for the Aquaculture/Seafood Industry
Charm provides many types of rapid diagnostic test that can help the Aquaculture and Seafood industry improve food safety and quality. Antibiotics are a vital component of treatment and elimination of disease in aquaculture. However, as a greater number of fish or crustaceans are exposed to sub-therapeutic levels of antibiotics in feeds to prevent or reduce the incidence of infectious diseases, there is a higher risk of antibiotic residues in aquaculture reaching the food supply. Correct dosage rates, frequency, and withholding/wash-out times prior to harvest are critical determinants in assuring that antibiotic residues are not present in the final product. An antibiotic monitoring program using Charm tests along critical control points can help lower the incidence of residues in finished product, enabling more valuable product to get to market. In addition, Charm’s ROSA mycotoxin and pesticide tests can strengthen residue avoidance programs in aquaculture feeds.  Seafood processing facilities can improve food safety and quality by using Charm’s ATP-based sanitation program which provides instant assessment of the hygienic status of surfaces (food and non-food contact), water quality and other environmental areas.

Click on a tab below to learn more about each test.

• Charm II
• KIS Test
• PocketSwab
• FieldSwab
• WaterGiene
• AllerGiene
• CideLite

Charm II Charm II is a multipurpose Liquid Scintillation Counter (LSC) and Luminometer System that can test a wide range of residues in meat tissues, dairy, animal urine, farmed fish, farmed shrimp, eggs, feed and honey. The variety of tests along with system reliability has made Charm II the “Gold Standard” worldwide in residue avoidance programs. Charm II is unmatched in its diagnostic menu for antibiotics/antimicrobial drugs.

KIS Test The Charm Kidney Inhibition Swab (KIS) is a simple to use inhibition test for screening broad-spectrum antimicrobial drugs in fresh or thawed kidney tissue. A modified procedure allows the KIS Test to be applied to poultry serum, animal feed, beef and porcine urine, and water.     KIS TEST AT A GLANCE      • Detect numerous antimicrobial drugs at or near Kidney        Tolerances and MRLs      • Results in ~ 3 hours      • Used by USDA-FSIS (Food Safety and Inspection Service)        inspectors at slaughter facilities      • Applications for water, feed extracts, poultry serum and        live animal urine      • Excellent for pre- and post-harvest HACCP and residue        avoidance programs

PocketSwab Plus The PocketSwab Plus is a room-temperature stable, self-contained, single service rapid ATP hygiene test that enables total surface hygiene verification in less than 25 seconds.     POCKETSWAB PLUS AT A GLANCE      • Surface hygiene verification       • 1-year shelf-life at room temperature        • Total sanitation indicator: Microbial, product residue,        personal hygiene, SSOP deviation      • No reagent preparation      • Re-sealable foil bag for easy storage      • Recyclable components for low environmental impact

FieldSwab Charm FieldSwab is a room-temperature stable hygiene swab that rapidly detects ATP (adenosine triphosphate) as a measure of surface cleanliness. FieldSwab is uniquely engineered to allow food safety programs to be implemented outdoors in “field” type applications or environments.     FIELDSWAB AT A GLANCE      • Enhanced sensitivity to ATP       • Uniquely engineered to allow analysis outdoors in “field”        • 1-year shelf-life at room temperature      • No reagent preparation      • Foam tip pre-moistened with biofilm breaking agent      • Patented thread design for ease and repeatability           • Recyclable components for low environmental impact

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->Rapid One Step Assay (ROSA^®)

WaterGiene WaterGiene is a super-enhanced test to detect total ATP in water, which is a critical indicator of total biologic activity resulting from microorganisms, as well as plant, animal or food material. WaterGiene is the most sensitive ATP water quality test due to enhanced reagent chemistry and superior bioluminescence detection on the Charm novaLUM instrument.     WATERGIENE AT A GLANCE       WaterGiene is useful for detecting:       • ATP in Rinse Water         • ATP in Clean-in-Place (CIP) Systems         • ATP in Water Storage Tanks       • ATP on Cooling Towers (Water Economizers)       • ATP in Warmers       • ATP in Potable Water            • ATP in Post-Wastewater Treatment

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->Rapid One Step Assay (ROSA^®)

AllerGiene Charm AllerGiene is an ATP-based allergen control test designed to prevent cross-contact from allergenic food soil on process equipment. It measures ATP (adenosine triphosphate) at low levels as an indicator for the presence of food on wet-cleaned surfaces or rinse waters. By achieving a higher level of “clean”, better management of allergen control programs is achieved.     ALLERGIENE AT A GLANCE      • 30 second test       • Broad spectrum indicator test        • Achieve a higher level of “Clean”      • No reagent preparation or extraction      • ATP is common to multiple allergenic foods      • Patented thread design for ease and repeatability           • Recyclable components for low environmental impact

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->Rapid One Step Assay (ROSA^®)

CideLite Pesticide The Charm CideLite Test is a screening method that saves time by screening individual samples for the presence or absence of multiple organophosphate and n-methylcarbamate pesticides/ insecticides in water, feeds, and a variety of other food products.     CIDELITE AT A GLANCE      • 15 minute assay       • Simple extraction for most matrices      • No extraction for water or milk      • No purification step      • Broad spectrum detection for organophosphate        and n-methylcarbamates