Neogen Corporation is an international food safety company that provides test kits and relevant products to detect dangerous substances in food. The company was founded in 1982 and is based in

Lansing, Michigan Lansing () is the capital of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is mostly in Ingham County, although portions of the city extend west into Eaton County and north into Clinton County. The 2020 census placed the city's population at 112,644, making ...

. The company serves a wide range of countries including

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

the United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, parts of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, among others. As of 2016, the company has a market capitalization of $1.83 billion with an enterprise value of $1.57 billion. The company operates a product line of over 100 drug detection test kits worldwide for the detection of about 300 abused and therapeutic drugs in animal treatment. In 2009, it became a vendor of the

Chinese government The Government of the People's Republic of China () is an authoritarian political system in the People's Republic of China under the exclusive political leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It consists of legislative, executive, mili ...

and has been engaged in researching China-specific food safety and plant health issues.

History

The company was founded by Herbert D. "Ted" Doan and James L. Herbert in 1981 as an investment project by

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

. An early $50,000 investment by the Michigan State University Foundation awarded 30% of the company shares in the early years after its founding. The purpose of the company was to help strengthen the

biotechnology Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used b ...

community in Lansing and the state as a whole, which had no large biotech companies at the time, and to help retain molecular biologists within the state. One of the earliest acquisitions for the company was Ideal Instruments Inc. in 1985 in order to utilize their production of veterinary tools. In 1991, Neogen purchased WTT, a 1988 spinoff company of the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...

that licensed the technology the college had developed. Named for the company's founding professors David Watt, Hsin-Hsiung "Daniel" Tai, and Thomas Tobin, WTT manufactured drug-detection tests for the

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...

industry. The

ELISA The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) (, ) is a commonly used analytical biochemistry assay, first described by Eva Engvall and Peter Perlmann in 1971. The assay uses a solid-phase type of enzyme immunoassay (EIA) to detect the presence ...

(enzyme-linked immunoassay) tests allowed officials to test for

performance-enhancing drugs Performance-enhancing substances, also known as performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs), are substances that are used to improve any form of activity performance in humans. A well-known example of cheating in sports involves doping in sport, where bann ...

that were difficult to detect in 1988. In 2010, Neogen acquired the

genomics Genomics is an interdisciplinary field of biology focusing on the structure, function, evolution, mapping, and editing of genomes. A genome is an organism's complete set of DNA, including all of its genes as well as its hierarchical, three-dim ...

-focused company GeneSeek in order to expand their focus on animal genomes and proper heredity and breeding, especially in regards to cattle. In December 2021, 3M announced that it would merge its food-safety business with Neogen. The deal, with an enterprise value of about $5.3 billion, closed in September 2022.

Products

Neogen focuses on supplying products for bacterial detection and proper sterilization and tool handling with antibiotics, along with genomics research products focused on gene isolation and heredity mapping. The detection products include Reveal for ''Salmonella'' Enteriditis, along with Agri-Screen and Veratox for a range of

mycotoxin A mycotoxin (from the Greek μύκης , "fungus" and τοξίνη , "toxin") is a toxic secondary metabolite produced by organisms of kingdom Fungi and is capable of causing disease and death in both humans and other animals. The term 'mycotoxin' ...

detections. Advancements in hydrophobic grid membrane filter (HGMF) technology led Neogen to the creation of a disposable filter in 2004 called NEO-GRID.

Organization

The company operates its business through two segments including

Food Safety Food safety (or food hygiene) is used as a scientific method/discipline describing handling, preparation, and storage of food in ways that prevent food-borne illness. The occurrence of two or more cases of a similar illness resulting from t ...

and Animal Safety. The Food Safety segment provides diagnostic kits test and other complementary products for dangerous or unintended substances testing in both human and animal food. The Animal Safety segment is engaged in developing and supplying pharmaceuticals and medical instruments that are used in global veterinary market. The latter segment also produces medicine to control animal disease and rodents in wide industries including agricultural, food production. In 2013, the company acquired Chem-Tech Ltd, which used to by wholly owned by Pat and Kelle Rolfes.

References

Literature cited

* * *

External links

* {{authority control Food and drink companies of the United States Companies based in Lansing, Michigan Food and drink companies established in 1981 1981 establishments in Michigan Companies listed on the Nasdaq