Mérieux NutriSciences, a leading international network of accredited food testing laboratories, have announced that it has moved one of its four Canadian food testing labs to a new, 24,000 square foot facility, just miles from its former location in Burnaby, British Columbia.

The actual move, which took place on Saturday, April 22nd, signifies the growth in offerings and the ability to enhance Mérieux NutriSciences’ microbiological testing capabilities in the Vancouver area, including the upper northwest region of the United States.

“The new Burnaby lab will give us the ability to enhance our analytical testing, especially for micro. We will be able to offer even more capabilities now, including tests such as E. coli 0.157, and will have the space to introduce additional rapid methods for detecting Salmonella and Listeria in raw and processed products. The lab’s new layout will also be able to support a more efficient sample flow and provide room to expand our chemistry capabilities,” states Mérieux NutriSciences President for North America, Jim Miller.

With a continued focus on protecting consumer health, Mérieux NutriSciences takes pride in being an industry leader in food safety and quality. “To understand our customers’ needs is to understand where the industry is headed,” says Miller. “The feedback we were getting from our customers had a lot of influence on our decision for this move.”

The new lab in Burnaby is one of four Mérieux NutriSciences labs in Canada, and one of twenty-one labs in all of North America. The Burnaby location presently caters to the dietary supplements, meat and poultry, fish and seafood, fruit and vegetables and processed foods industries. However, with the new space, the company expects to be able to expand their current capabilities to reach a wider array of customers by late fall.

Mérieux NutriSciences’ officials visited the lab for a ribbon cutting ceremony on Monday, May 8th, and hope to celebrate with a open house, inviting customers to tour the lab, in early September.