Almelo, 11^th June 2009 – Zwanenberg Food Group is involved in the development of a prototype for the rapid detection of viruses and bacteria. The meat processing company from Almelo is working closely with Ostendum, a spin-off from the University of Twente, for this purpose.

“The newly developed machine can help detect pathogenic organisms ‘on the spot’,” according to Erik Vliek, Director of Quality Assurance/Research & Development at Zwanenberg.

“The present methods are expensive, complicated and time-consuming, as they take a number of days to establish whether or not meat contains viruses or bacteria, for example.”

The Enschede based Ostendum company recently presented the first prototype of a detector which can show whether a person is contaminated with a virus or bacteria within a few minutes. In foods, one can think in terms not only of bacteria but also the presence of the Noro virus. Ostendum has been working on the portable machine since 2008, and plans to market it at the end of 2010.

The detector can not only detect viruses and bacteria on the basis of a blood or saliva sample, but also proteins and DNA molecules. “That also offers perspectives for other applications. It’s simple to identify the type of meat under inspection, for example,” says Vliek. The support offered by the Zwanenberg Food Group consists mainly of the provision of know-how and facilities, such as the company laboratory in Almelo.

The machine developed by Ostendum comprises a “lab on a chip” and a laser detector. Ostendum is working on two other prototypes, and will be testing the three prototypes in practice, in cooperation with Zwanenberg and the Enschede Laboratory for Microbiology of Twente.

About Zwanenberg Food Group

With 1,600 employees and a turnover of EUR 350 million (2008), Zwanenberg Food Group is one of the leading European producers and exporters of deli meats and meat preserves. Zwanenberg has own production locations in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States. Zwanenberg exports meat preserves to more than a hundred countries worldwide. The group sells its products under a variety of international brand names, including ZWAN (in many of the export countries) and Kips’ (in the Netherlands). The company also sells a number of well-known private labels and, besides retail, has acquired a strong position in the out-of-home segment (corporate and institutional catering, as well as sales via petrol stations, etcetera), in sliced and packaged deli meats for example.

For more information, please contact:

Erik Vliek, Director of Quality Assurance/Research & Development

telephone +31 6 51 20 99 66

e-mail e.vliek@zwanenberg.nl

Jos Böhmer, Head of ZFG Laboratory

telephone +31 546 547 600

e-mail j.bohmer@zwanenberg.nl