Genetic identification: DuPont teams with Eurofins to deliver improved transparency to probiotics

13 Jul 2018 --- DuPont Nutrition & Health and Eurofins have developed and validated strain-level identification assays in probiotic testing, leading the way for industry-wide product integrity and label accuracy. Eurofins will employ DuPont’s polymerase-chain-reaction (PCR) genotyping assays to identify probiotics at the strain level in both raw materials and finished products.

An industry-wide challenge
The need for strain-specific testing is clear: numerous studies have found inaccuracies in probiotic labeling, with issues including incorrect taxonomy, missing species and unlabeled species.

“These findings emphasize the necessity of reliable methods to determine the taxonomy of microbial populations in probiotic products,” says Wesley Morovic, Scientist in the Genomics & Microbiome Science group at DuPont Nutrition & Health. “However, because strain identification has not historically been required, little investment has been made to support the industry in doing so. DuPont is one of few manufacturers to share its genetic identification methods with customers and the public.”

DuPont, a leading manufacturer of probiotics that are scientifically proven to have health benefits, routinely utilizes new technologies to improve its methods of strain identification. By making its genotyping PCRs available and working with Eurofins to develop accurate tests, DuPont is helping to drive the industry toward label traceability.

“Many manufacturers understand that verifying raw materials and identifying finished products is as important as quantifying potency, for both label compliance and manufacturer confidence,” says Mehgan Styke, Business Development Manager at Eurofins. “But until now, the tools for specific and accurate identification were either inaccessible or had yet to be developed; adding to the challenge are the nuances of probiotic products. With DuPont’s strain assays, Eurofins has become the first third-party laboratory to support identification to strain level, completing our portfolio of accurate testing for full label verification of potency, stability and identification.”

A science-based solution
“Our goal is to use science-driven solutions to bring a higher level of transparency to the probiotics market,” says Megan DeStefano, Global Marketing Manager, Probiotics, DuPont Nutrition & Health, “benefiting both manufacturers, who are under increased pressure to identify strains and are able to make health claims associated with specific ones, and consumers. We have worked closely with Eurofins to develop this service and are fully confident in their capabilities.”

“These methods are at a cost and efficiency in line with the current less accurate and less specific methods,” says Michael Drozd, President of Eurofins AgBio. “We are excited to leverage the collective knowledge of DuPont and Eurofins BioDiagnostics to bring the industry to a higher level of transparency.”

Next steps
“While the primary goal of an EFSA submission is to clearly demonstrate a health benefit, unambiguous strain identification would be beneficial. Strain-specific ID is key to quality for all aspects of DuPont Nutrition & Health’s product offerings,” Amy Smith, Senior Manager Scientific and Regulatory Affairs, DuPont Nutrition & Health, tells NutritionInsight.

“The ability to use digital PCR to enumerate strains (as established by Hansen et al. 2018) within a blend would lend itself to product verification and regulatory compliance, with the end goal being the ability to provide a strain-specific enumeration of live cells in complex, multi-strain products,” Wes Morovic, Scientist, Genomics & Microbiome Science Group, DuPont Nutrition & Health, explains to NutritionInsight.

“For strain-level identification, Eurofins will continue to work with microbial strain producers to develop and validate strain-specific assays; however, robust analysis also requires ongoing comparison to any and all closely related products on the market, of which there are many novel strains being identified and many others that are still kept under lock and key,” Mehgan Styke, Business Development Manager, Eurofins Biodiagnostics, tells NutritionInsight.

“Optimistically, the next step is not only the development of further strain assays, or strain-specific quantification, or WGS that is as efficient as PCR – all of which are likely. In addition, there must be a shift in mindset with all strain producers making their sequences available to the public (databases) so that any genomic technology (including microbiome analyses) can be used to their full extent,” Styke concludes.

By Joshua Poole