P I C O L A B ®   D I E T    P R O D U C T S
PMI® Nutrition International PicoLab® Diet products are the first laboratory feeds to be treated with irradiation. They are irradiated prior to shipment to provide virtually bacteria-free diets containing less than 50 micro organisms per gram.

Each of the five PicoLab® Diet products are packaged in exclusive 4-ply bags with pop-out inner pouches. This special packaging assures that the diets arrive in your lab in the same bacteria-free condition they were in when they left our plant. The pop-out pouch design allows you or spray disinfect the package before taking it into animal rooms.

Because the picowaving treatment assures you of reliable microbial control and virtually bacteria-free diets, the time, handling and cost needed to autoclave is eliminated.

Pico-Vac® diets offer the same advantages of irradiation as the PicoLab® diets, but in a vacuum package. This vacuum packaging is added assurance that there has been no post-processing contamination of the product.. In an instant, you can see that the package seal is intact and feel secure in the quality of the aseptic diet.

PicoLab® diets offer you a full line of isocaloric rodent diets that fit into a variety of experimental protocols. Each diet provides Constant Nutrition™ quality to assure a minimum of variation from breeding colony to research. The products are manufactured and packaged with extreme care in our drug and estrogen-free plant in Richmond, Indiana.

Effect of Irradiation on Bacteriological and Vitamin Levels

Results
Guinea pig diet was irradiated. Vitamin and microbiological assays were performed on the product before and after irradiation. As the results indicate, irradiation achieved excellent reduction of the microbial load while having minimal effects on the vitamin content of the product. Although the data appears to indicate that irradiation increases the levels of some vitamins, these elevated values are the result of analytical variation. PicoLab® Diet Products are formulated to provide optimal vitamin levels after irradiation.

Analytical Data
% of Vitamin Remaining after Irradiation
Vitamin A   94
Vitamin D   98
Vitamin E   110
Thiamin   97
Riboflavin   103
Pyridoxine   93
Niacin   99
Pantothenic Acid   98
Choline   100
Folic Acid   96
Vitamin C   86
Biotin   100
Vitamin B12   92

 

Microbiological Assay    Units   Control
Irradiated
Total aerobic plate   CFU/g1   51667 <1
Total yeast   CFU/g   1 <1
Total mold   CFU/g   417 <1
Total mesophilic anaerobic spores MPN/g2 1100 <3
Mesophilic aerobic spores   CFU/g   41500 <1
Thermophilic anaerobic spores MPN/g 1100 <3
Total Thermophilic aerobic spores CFU/g   6167 <1
Total flat sour spores   CFU/g   2802 <1

1 CFU/g = Colony Forming Units per gram
2 MPN/g = Most Probable Number per gram

The lower limit of detection for Total Aerobic Plate, Total Yeast, Total Mold, Mesophilic Aerobic Spores, Total Thermophilic Aerobic Spores and Total Flat Sour Spores is less than one colony forming unit per gram (CFU/g). The lower limit of detection for Total Mesophilic Anaerobic Spores and Thermophilic Anaerobic Spores is less than three most probable number per gram (MPN/g).

11/12/02