Windjammer takeover of Advanced Instruments falls in line with growing dairy testing market

By Mary Ellen Shoup

- Last updated on GMT

Dairy analysis tools such as the Advanced Instruments' 4250 single-sample cryoscope employ industry standard analytical methods to determine certain liquid composition factors such as the amount of added water in milk.
Dairy analysis tools such as the Advanced Instruments' 4250 single-sample cryoscope employ industry standard analytical methods to determine certain liquid composition factors such as the amount of added water in milk.

Related tags Pasteurization Milk

Midmarket investment firm Windjammer has acquired Massachusetts-based Advanced Instruments (AI), maker of dairy analysis tools, after receiving US regulatory clearance from the Federal Trade Commission.

The acquisition of Advanced Instruments marks the sixth platform investment made by Windjammer as part of its $726m Senior Equity Fund IV. Financial terms of the deal have not been shared by either party.

Markets and Markets predicts the dairy testing market will reach $17.16bn by 2021, growing at a CAGR rate of 7.4% from 2016. The growing dairy analysis market is driven by factors such as foodborne illness outbreaks, and the implementation of stringent food safety standards like FSMA.

“Our focus will be on adjacent niche product categories in which AI can leverage its end user customer base, channel partners and brand reputation,” ​Craig Majernik, principal at Windjammer, said in a statement.

Identified as one of top players in the global osometer market, Advanced Instruments has thousands of end users in more than 90 countries who use the company’s products under the Advanced Instruments, Fisk, and Mart Microbiology brands.

Long-standing player in osmolality testing market

Advanced Instruments started when scientist Bud Wiggin first coined the term “osometer,” ​as he set out to bring advanced functionality to the clinical and dairy markets.

Food testing methods such as osmality testing, which refers to the number of solutes in a liquid such as milk, is now a standard practice in dairy laboratories worldwide. This process is essential to controlling the composition of milk like its water content in order to conform to different regulations of milk processing.

For dairy and food laboratories, Advanced Instruments offers its customers equipment for monitoring both raw and processed dairy products.

The company’s cryoscopes allow the user to detect the presence of added water in milk and the Fluorophos ALP System measures the pasteurization of milk products. Advanced Instruments also manufactures dairy preservative products that are used worldwide to preserve the integrity of milk samples, for testing for components such as fat, protein, and carbohydrates, according to the company’s website.

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