Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 2 March 2017
279. Deputy Eamon Scanlon asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the amount spent on a piece of equipment called maldi-TOF in the regional veterinary laboratory at Backweston facility; when this piece of equipment was purchased; if it is in daily use; the number of samples tested on it on a daily basis; if full time staff are working on the instrument; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10944/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraFollowing an open tender process, conducted on behalf of my Department by the Education Procurement Service, under the auspices of the OGP, a Maldi-TOF instrument was purchased from Cruinn Diagnostics Ltd at a cost of €229,900 plus 23% VAT in November 2015. This is inclusive of a five year service contract ( 20/11/2015 – 20/11/2020). The instrument was installed and commissioned in early 2016.
The Maldi-TOF was purchased to provide rapid, low-cost typing of bacterial isolates; it is primarily used by staff based in Bacteriology Division at Backweston. As the initial priority was using the instrument in support of typing isolates from regulatory programmes the focus was directed towards having the technology validated and accredited for this purpose. It is hoped that accreditation of the method will be achieved during the accreditation assessment scheduled for the coming months.
A number of staff have been trained and use this instrument routinely for typing Salmonella, Campylobacter, E. coli and mastitis pathogens as well as isolates from some other diagnostic submissions. It is not used daily as samples are batched for processing. Over 3,500 samples were processed during 2016.
A research assistant is currently being recruited to help further application of the Maldi-TOF in processing isolates from pathological material sourced from regional laboratories. This is expected to advance rapidly in the coming months.
