BSE test puts Enfer in the scientific frontline
ENFER Scientific prides itself on being the first company in the world to come up with a rapid test for BSE. The test is 100% specific and 100% sensitive a great assurance to the industry and consumers alike.
The Enfer-developed test generates results within three-and-a-half hours, a significant improvement on previous tests which took up to a week. The rapid test means veterinary inspectors can visit abattoirs daily, take the samples they need and have the results the next morning.
The wholly-Irish Tipperary and Kildare-based company has revolutionised the BSE testing system. Its speed and accuracy means there are no undue delays at abattoirs and consumers can be assured the test is safe and accurate.
In many respects Enfer is providing a national service, safeguarding the multi-billion euro agricultural industry daily.
Operations manager Riona Sayers said: "Our test is a test based on ELISA technology. Basically, it is an antibody/antigen reaction. Antibodies naturally found in mammalian immune systems essentially act as magnets, which can specifically identify analytes of interest, in this case, the BSE infectious agent. All our tests are post mortem and the samples are taken by Department of Agriculture veterinary inspectors in abattoirs.
The Enfer test was developed in 1996. It was validated in Ireland by the Department of Agriculture in 1997 and validated by the European Commission in 1999.
Between head-office near Cashel and the Newbridge facility in Kildare, Enfer employs between 130 and 150 people. The numbers are seasonal. The facility is open 24 hours a day with the majority of testing carried out at night to facilitate work at abattoirs.
Samples are typically delivered to Enfer at 6pm. They are processed and the results returned to the abattoirs before work starts at 7am the next morning.
As well as testing Enfer manufactures its own diagnostic kits. Much of the work on kits is completed during daytime hours.
The kits are so highly regarded that in March of last year Enfer formed a global distribution partnership with ABBOTT Laboratories, a Chicago-based diagnostics company, the largest in the world.
"Abbott operates to FDA standards and has similar expectations of its manufacturing partners. We attribute our success to the highly regulated and quality environment in which we operate. We manufacture Enfer BSE kits and Abbott distributes them world wide," said Ms Sayers.
While other firms in the scientific and pharmaceutical sectors are going through a rough patch, Enfer Scientific Ltd continues to weather the storm. It maintains two to three projects at research and development level all the time. All are based on the food and agriculture industries both vital to the Irish economy.
"A lot of the work in this area is top secret but we are working extremely hard on a live test for BSE. That would also be a rapid test. All our tests are. Our uniquely designed operating systems can test up to 9,000 samples over 12 hours," said Ms Sayers.
Everyone employed at Enfer has a scientific qualification, varying from diploma to PhD level, and the company has a proud retention rate. It concentrates on its strengths, its core competencies.
"The people working in our company are proud of the great team spirit here. We are doing something which is very much of national importance.
"We carry out both manufacturing and diagnostic testing at our facilities so that people have a chance to move on and move up within the company. We try to keep people's positions exciting and allow them to develop new skills in order to maximise their scientific expertise. They know that with us they have an opportunity to move ahead."
