Singaporean seafood producer, Umami Bioworks, has launched a seafood safety and quality assurance solution to improve pathogen detection and quality assessment across the seafood value chain.
A leading force in cellular agriculture and biosolutions, Umami Bioworks is integrating its marine-biology knowledge to tackle a critical challenge facing the cultivated seafood sector. Arbiter is the result – a nucleic acid-based testing platform capable of detecting up to 800 unique pathogens in a single run, delivering actionable results in under six hours.
The company claims it offers unprecedented precision, speed, and cost-effectiveness with higher sensitivity, breadth, and quantification than current pathogen detection methods.
Arbiter not only provides early pathogen detection but also drastically reduces labour intensity, with less than 15 minutes of preparation time for up to 50 samples. At less than $1 per target, the cost-effective platform is aiming to democratise and universalise pathogen diagnostics and quality control by making them more accessible, objective and scalable.
Umami Bioworks CEO, Mihir Pershad, said the introduction of Arbiter embodies the company’s commitment to pushing scientific boundaries and creating real-world impact.
“It exemplifies our core mission – to harness the power of cellular biology and our ocean heritage to solve some of the world’s most pressing challenges and create a healthier future for humanity.”
Arbiter is suited for applications in aquaculture, food safety and quality assurance and species authentication, addressing critical needs across the value chain in industries such as:
- Aquaculture: Detecting diseases in species like salmon, shrimp, and tilapia, to minimise growing economic losses attributed to infectious diseases.
- Food safety and quality assurance: Ensuring the integrity and safety of global food supplies by accurately detecting pathogens, contaminants, and quality markets.
- Environmental monitoring: Offering new capabilities for monitoring and protecting ecosystems by identifying harmful pathogens in aquatic environments.
