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How exactly do we know what's in our food?

Scientists at a new lab in Fairfield may be able to answer that question.

They let cameras in for a tour of the new facility today, where they're carrying out critical food safety testing, checking for traces of bacteria hygiene standards and importantly, the so-called forever chemicals known as fast.

Ted Goldberg went behind the scenes today to check it out.

Microbiologist Emily Baez is dealing with hot stuff at the new food testing facility in Fairfield.

It's cooling it down right now because here is, like very hot 95°C.

And then after that, I'm going to transfer, 50 microliters into the tubes.

This food product, which we're not allowed to identify, is being tested by SGS North America.

And then I'm going to load it into the machine.

It's going to break the sample apart.

And it's going to react with the pellet inside here.

And then in there is going to fluoresce.

When Emily is doing is a DNA based test called PCR.

So in order to do that test we have to light the bacteria using eight lines, meaning breaking cells open.

The scientists here do a variety of tests to make sure there's no nasty surprises in the food products we eat every day.

That allows the DNA to come out into the solution.

And then we put it on the thermo cycler.

It can amplify these pieces of DNA that are specific to salmonella, Listeria, E coli, O157, and be detected with the unit.

Jodi Jurgens is the head of food for SGS North America, and she says this plant will play a crucial role in safeguarding what we use to cook and the foods we eat.

We also provide a full range of services.

If you want to look for indicator organisms in your products or in your environment.

We're here to help you.

We have the fastest methods out there.

We can do a pathogen analysis in 24 hours or less.

While SGS North America has been in Fairfield for a while, this lab used to specialize in consumer products and cosmetic testing.

We're here to celebrate the opening of our larger facility.

It's no longer has capacity issues, and is designed to provide fast and efficient results to our clients.

We, completely gutted the entire space.

We built a flow that makes sense for food testing.

We put in dedicated, heating and cooling equipment to control the airflow without those capacity issues.

Plants like this one can adapt to the larger demand of people who want more stringent testing on what they buy.

We're seeing high levels of growth within food.

As our consumers become more concerned about the quality of their food, and actually our government becomes more concerned as well.

The market is evolving, so we have to evolve as well.

What is the role of clients I'm looking for on a regular basis?

How can a clients improve their output?

As for microplastics and forever chemicals, Jergens says this plant could test for them in the future, depending on what their clients ask for.

So the methodology has been developed.

There is initial verification and validation happening, for the methods within the laboratories.

But we just haven't seen the demand within food products.

SGS operates five food testing sites nationwide, but this is their only one in new Jersey.

While their list of clients is confidential, there's a good chance the food you're eating has been inspected by their scientists to make sure you're safe and that the label matches what's inside.

In Fairfield, I'm Ted Goldberg, NJ Spotlight News.