DuPont Nutrition & Health is joining forces with Eurofins Microbiology Laboratories, Inc. to deliver tailored food protection services with advanced analytical testing services. The agreement, which is initially being launched as a pilot program in the United States, combines DuPont’s expertise in food microbial ecology and its Detect + Protect service program with Eurofins’ capabilities in microbiological testing.

The food protection program will assist manufacturers with the microbial challenges they face in their production facilities while also addressing food spoilage and waste. Introducing antimicrobials can make food products last longer, but it’s important to ensure that the quality of those products is not affected. One of the goals of the partnership is to help food manufacturers reduce spoilage and expand the shelf life of their products without making such a compromise. “Detect + Protect targets clients that are all about comprehensive [food] safety and quality,” says Marc Scantlin, vice president, US Food Division at Eurofins. “Everything has an expiration date. How can we improve the timeline of keeping whole food safe while increasing shelf life?”

According to Nathalie Brosse, global market development, BioProtection at DuPont, the company has needed more space to build its Detect + Protect offering. DuPont will be leveraging Eurofins’ extensive lab capacity to make its program more widely available, while DuPont’s international client base opens the doors for Eurofins to expand its global reach.

From a logistics perspective, the partnership will also expedite sample turnaround, as the companies take advantage of the Eurofins microbiology lab in Louisville, KY. Located in close proximity to the UPS worldwide air hub, Eurofins can receive overnight samples between 2 am and 4:30 am, providing a faster turnaround of samples by nearly six to eight hours.

DuPont and Eurofins anticipate launching the partnership in Europe but are not disclosing dates yet.