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PerkinElmer's (PKI) Latest Launch to Expand Food Safety Suite

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PerkinElmer, Inc. announced the availability of its MicrofastTM ready-to-use microbial count plates for food safety testing on a global scale. The quick, convenient and accurate MicrofastTM microfilm plates can spot contaminants across multiple sample types.

Notably, the microbial count plates are part of the PerkinElmer’s wide-ranging food safety and quality solutions, including instruments, software, testing kits, reagents, and services for grain, meat and poultry, dairy, produce, beverages, edible oils, seafood, herbs and spices, and more.

With the latest launch, the company aims to solidify its global foothold in the food safety testing space.

About Microbial Count Plates

The new microfilm plates are developed to offer efficient, effective, and user-friendly quantification of aerobic, E. coli, coliform, enterobacteriaceae, yeast and mold, and staphylococcus aureaus contamination in dairy, meat/poultry, fruit, vegetable, baked goods and environmental surface samples. Notably, all six plate types have received the AOAC Performance Tested Methods certification.

 

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Aimed at food companies and contract labs, the highly sensitive and accurate kits feature a simple, three-step workflow that has 66% lesser steps than traditional approaches. Users can put the liquid sample on the leak-free culture area, featuring automatic diffusion, and lower the film without pressing, incubate the plate and wait for the new-generation microbial coloration to reflect the rapid proliferation of microbial contaminants.

Significance of the Microbial Count Plates

Per management, the AOAC-approved PerkinElmer’s microbial count plates have lesser complexity and labor demands yet provide a quality result, throughput and ease of use. Using microfilm plates, data becomes available sooner, presenting results within 48 and 72 hours for yeasts and mold compared with 120 hours and five days, respectively, through the use of traditional culture methods. This helps in timely decision-making and maximizes sample throughput.

Moreover, the microbial plates minimize human error with the help of standardized protocols and offer a small footprint to save space in incubators and storage areas. In line with PerkinElmer’s commitment to sustainability, the microfilm/cardboard design of the plates lowers plastic waste in the lab.

Industry Prospects

Per a report by Grand View Research, the global food safety testing market was estimated to be $18 billion in 2018, witnessing a CAGR of 7.7% between 2019 and 2025. Factors like growing demand for packaged and processed food, rising incidents of chemical contamination in food processing industries, and growing consumer awareness about food safety are expected to drive the market.

Recent Developments

In April 2022, PerkinElmer launched two ready-to-use Homogenous Time Resolved Technology and AlphaLISA no-wash assay kits. The kits have been created to quickly and easily identify and quantify CHO host cell protein impurities during biopharmaceutical manufacturing.

In March 2022, PerkinElmer launched its FT-IR liquid food testing platform, including instruments, software and streamlined workflows. This includes the LQA300 TM FT-IR system for wine, and the LactoScope 300TM FT-IR system for liquid dairy, which leverage PerkinElmer’s FT-IR Spectroscopy technology and expand the company’s FT-IR dairy portfolio, respectively.

Price Performance

Shares of the company have gained 2.1% in the past year against the industry’s 3.1% fall.

Zacks Rank and Key Picks

PerkinElmer currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

A few better-ranked stocks in the broader medical space are UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (UNH - Free Report) , Medpace Holdings, Inc. (MEDP - Free Report) and Alkermes plc (ALKS - Free Report) .

UnitedHealth, having a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), reported first-quarter 2022 earnings per share (EPS) of $5.49, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.7%. Revenues of $80.1 billion outpaced the consensus mark by 14.2%.

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

UnitedHealth has an estimated long-term growth rate of 14.8%. UNH’s earnings surpassed estimates in the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 3.7%.

Medpace reported first-quarter 2022 adjusted EPS of $1.69, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 34.1%. Revenues of $330.9 million outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.1%. It currently has a Zacks Rank #2.

Medpace has a historical growth rate of 27.3%. MEDP’s earnings surpassed estimates in the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 17.1%.

Alkermes reported first-quarter 2022 adjusted EPS of 12 cents, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a penny. Revenues of $278.6 million outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 6.2%. It currently sports a Zacks Rank #1.

Alkermes has an estimated long-term growth rate of 25.1%. ALKS’ earnings surpassed estimates in the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 350.5%.

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