New Saliva Test For Foreign Bodies

RSSL has added a saliva test to its foreign body identification service. The forensic test, based on detecting the presence or absence of enzymes found in saliva, can be used as a confirmation or challenge to customers who claim to have taken a foreign body into their mouths. The same test can also be used to confirm, for example, whether customers have drunk directly from a bottle, a factor that may also be relevant in substantiating a customer complaint.

RSSL is well known for its ability to identify a wide range of foreign bodies, such as fragments of glass, metal swarf, packaging fragments, and animal body parts. Foreign body analysis is a major part of RSSL's Emergency Response Service, a three-tier membership service offering support at times of product crises. According to Simon Deadman of RSSL's microscopy department, "There is a bewildering range of foreign bodies that are reported by customers, but not all of these are genuine, or may not have occurred in quite the way that the customer claims. The saliva test is one more technique we can use in our investigations to verify customer complaints, and to expose those cases where customers may be attempting to defraud the food manufacturer."