New partnership strives to tackle milk fraud with automated testing platform

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The platform will allow companies in the dairy sector to quickly verify the authenticity of milk. Pic: Getty Images/pixinoo

Dutch digital biology firm Digi.Bio and DNA detection company SwissDeCode are joining forces to accelerate the automated detection of milk fraud.

The product of this partnership is a platform that consists of an integrated hardware device and embedded software that allows milk validation analysis to be performed autonomously at the point of need, delivering certified results without requiring technical personnel.

“We will leverage the power of digital microfluidics to automate testing assays and bring the precision of DNA-testing from molecular biology laboratories to production sites in the milk industry,” Federico Muffatto, CEO at Digi.Bio, said.

The platform will allow companies in the dairy sector to quickly verify the authenticity of milk, by detecting, for example, undeclared milk of other species mixed in the sample tested. This will prevent delays, disruptions to the supply chain and food recalls.

“Milk adulteration is a common issue, which we have come across in our interactions with the food industry during the past few years. We are excited that our partnership will bring a new solution for this problem,” Brij Sahi, co-founder & CEO at SwissDeCode, said.

Amsterdam-based Digi.Bio is a digital biology company with a vision to make biology programmable. It develops tools and technology that allows highly controlled manipulation of droplets using electrowetting and digital microfluidics to execute complex laboratory workflows.

Its technology requires no pumps, no complex chip designs; and employs programmable biochips where one chip can support many applications.

SwissDeCode was founded in 2016, after the co-founders developed DNA detection solutions to improve the integrity of the food supply chain.

With several rapid testing kits already in the market, the company has been helping companies in different parts of the food supply chain to detect food contamination and adulteration earlier, to avoid food recalls and to ensure customers can trust their products.