IRRADIATED LABDIET® PRODUCTS

PICOLAB® & ISOPRO®
Researched and developed by PMI, LabDiet® PicoLab® products were introduced in 1984 as the first research animal diets treated with irradiation.  In 1996, the IsoPro® product range was added, providing researchers a wider selection of diets to choose.  PicoLab® and IsoPro® undergo an irradiation treatment process which assures you of reliable microbial control and virtually bacteria-free, sanitized diets.
PACKAGING
BENEFITS OF USING PICOLAB®, ISOPRO® AND PICO-VAC® IRRADIATED DIETS
  • Irradiation causes minimal nutritional damage to the formulated product.
  • Irradiation extends shelf-life of feed by removing bacteria and mold spores.
  • Irradiation does not affect the palatability of animal diets.
  • Irradiation provides batch to batch nutrient stability.
  • Irradiated diets are easy to handle, typically requiring less labor at the research facility level.
WHAT IS IRRADIATION AND WHAT DOES IRRADIATION DO?
  • Irradiation is 'Energy' that moves through space in invisible waves.
  • Irradiation damages the DNA of bacteria, insects and mold spores and prevents replication of these unsanitary and interfering substances.
CapSack
PicoLab® and IsoPro® products are packaged in exclusive 4-ply bags with removable pop-out inner pouches.  Simply follow the on-bag instructions to remove the inner bag.  This special packaging assures that the diets arrive in your lab in the same virtually bacteria-free condition achieved when irradiated and shipped from our production facility.  The removable pop-out pouch design allows you to disinfect the package before taking it into animal rooms.
Pico-Vac®
Pico-Vac® diets offer the same advantages of irradiation as the standard PicoLab® and IsoPro® diets, but are vacuum-packed in 5-pound plastic bags.  The unbroken vacuum seal is an additional assurance of the integrity of the package.  The package can be dipped or sprayed for disinfecting, and the 5-pound size is convenient for use in laminar flow hoods.
CONFIDENCE
REDUCING YOUR RESEARCH RISK
Each PicoLab®, IsoPro® and Pico-Vac® product provides the LabDiet® Constant Nutrition™ quality that assures minimal variation in your animal nutrition program.  These, and all LabDiet® products are manufactured and packaged with extreme care in our ISO 9001:2000 plant in Richmond, Indiana.
HELPING TO SPEED YOUR RESEARCH PROCESS
By combining our nutritional expertise with irradiation technology, we've produced a complete irradiated product line to meet all your sanitized feed needs.  Irradiated diets save handling time and are ready-to-use when they arrive at your facility.
SUMMARY OF IRRADIATED RODENT DIETS
  
ANALYTICAL DATA
Vitamin and microbiological assays were performed on PicoLab® Rodent Diet 20 5053 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® products are formulated to provide optimal vitamin levels after irradiation.
VITAMIN % RETAINED AFTER IRRADIATION
Vitamin A 94
Vitamin D 91
Vitamin E 111
Thiamin 110
Riboflavin 100
Pyridoxine 110
Pantothenic Acid 98
Choline Chloride 94
Folic Acid 118
Biotin 102
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
The level of irradiation was less than 2.5 Mrads.  The lower limit of detection for Total Aerobic Plate, Total Yeast, Total Mold, Mesophilic Aerobic Spores, Total Termophilic 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).

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

The data above shows a typical microbiological profile of an animal feed before and after irradiation.  While there is significant microbial contamination in the feed before irradiation, no aerobic bacteria, yeast, mold or spores were found at a sensitivity of 1 organism per gram (or 3 per gram in the case of mesophilic and thermophilic anaerobic spores) in the feed after irradiation.
Absolute sterility is difficult to define.  However, PicoLab® products are guaranteed to contain less than 10 organisms per gram of total aerobic bacteria, total yeast, total molds, and total thermophilic aerobic and thermophilic anaerobic spores.