Congress Grants Food and Drug Administration Enhanced Powers to Prevent Food-Borne Illnesses

SAN CLEMENTE, CA, Aug 11, 2009 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- MMTC | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Micro Imaging Technology, Inc. (OTCBB: MMTC | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) asserted today that its MIT 1000 Rapid Microbial Identification System is an ideal, operator-friendly and cost-effective solution for companies establishing enhanced food safety standards within their facilities to comply with and prepare for the House's recent enactment of enhanced food safety standards, and the resulting increased inspection and enforcement activities being planned by the Food and Drug Administration.

On July 30, 2009, the United States Congress approved the first significant changes to food-safety laws in over 70 years, giving broad new authority to the FDA to regulate the way food is grown, harvested, processed and delivered. These changes are officially known as the Food-Safety Modernization Act of 2009 (aka the Food Safety Bill), and were implemented in response to the numerous outbreaks that have affected our food supply here in the U.S. over the past few years.

If the Bill is enacted by the Senate after their August recess, as President Obama has already given it his verbal thumbs up, it would be the first major overhaul of food laws since 1938 when Congress gave the FDA limited power to "oversee" the safety of most foods, as well as drugs and cosmetics. Today, however, the U.S. food supply chain has grown increasingly complex.

The legislation requires the FDA to sharply step up inspections. It also gives the FDA significant authority to contain outbreaks of food-borne illnesses. The agency would be able to recall food if contamination is suspected, instead of relying on the food maker to act voluntarily as they have in the past.

The FDA will also get new enforcement powers and the ability to impose beefed-up civil and criminal penalties. One provision allows the agency to declare food "adulterated" simply if the grower or manufacturer has failed to follow safety standards, regardless of whether the food is actually tainted.

According to a July 31 article in the Washington Post (www.washingtonpost.com), the action by Congress follows a wave of food-borne illnesses over the past three years, involving products as varied as spinach and cookie dough. Declining consumer confidence made the issue a priority for congressional leaders and the White House. The article points to government statistics that show food illnesses sicken one in four Americans and kill 5,000 each year and that tainted food has cost the food industry billions of dollars in recalls, lost sales and legal expenses.

The bill's author, Representative John D. Dingell (D-Michigan), has been pushing for changes in food safety for years and stated, "Americans are dying because the Food and Drug Administration does not have authority to protect them, and American producers and agriculture are being hurt."

President Obama praised the Bill as well, saying, "This action represents a major step forward modernizing our food safety system and protecting Americans from food borne illness."

As MMTC reported in a June 6, 2009 press release, after approximately one year of exhaustive testing of its revolutionary MIT 1000 System, it has received the AOAC Research Institute's (AOAC RI) Performance Test Method(TM) (PTM) certification for the system's identification of Listeria. MMTC is currently adding E. Coli and Salmonella certifications, and earlier -- through numerous independent tests -- proved the system's ability to identify the most dangerous and pervasive pathogens: E. coli; Listeria; Salmonella, and; Staphylococcus aureus (aka Staph). Twenty other bacteria were also identified through these tests.

According to the Chairman of Micro Imaging Technology, Michael Brennan, "The AOAC RI certification is the highest standard achievable for food safety inspection. We're confident that this endorsement will go a long way towards our efforts to take a significant piece of the rapid identification market share. As will the work we did with other laboratories, including the USDA and NAMSA."

The MIT 1000 System performs rapid and low-cost microbial identifications via a process that is entirely unique compared to all other currently employed pathogen identification techniques. It does not rely on chemical or biological agents, conventional processing, fluorescent tags, gas chromatography or DNA analysis. The MIT 1000 System's process is totally GREEN, as it only requires clean water and a sample of the unknown bacteria in question. MMTC plans to target the food industry in the U.S. initially where over $3 billion is spent in rapid bacterial identification testing annually; a number that is rising at a rate of nearly 10 percent per year.

ABOUT MICRO IMAGING TECHNOLOGY, INC.:

Micro Imaging Technology ("MMTC") is a California-based public company that has developed and patented a rapid microbial identification system that can revolutionize the pathogenic recognition process and has the potential to save thousands of lives and tens of millions of dollars annually. The System identifies bacteria in minutes, not days, and at a significant per test cost savings when compared to any conventional method. Revenues for all rapid testing methods currently available exceed $5 billion annually, with food-safety accounting for over $3 billion of that -- a number that has expanded at a rate of 9.2 percent annually since 1998. Future growth projections are closer to 30 percent annually, with test demands driven by major health, safety and homeland security issues, as well as the pending Food Safety Bill.

The MIT 1000 System has numerous applications including food quality control, clinical diagnostics, pharmaceutical quality assurance, semiconductor processing control and water quality monitoring. MMTC has chosen to focus initial efforts on food safety as recent events have created an urgent demand for quicker and more cost-effective testing; demands that promote a high-value return on any MMTC's technology investment.

Interested parties are encouraged to visit MMTC's corporate Web site: www.micro-imaging.com

This release contains statements that are forward-looking in nature. Statements that are predictive in nature, that depend upon or refer to future events or conditions or that include words such as "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," and similar expressions are forward-looking statements. These statements are made based upon information available to the Company as of the date of this release, and we assume no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results could differ materially from our current expectations. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to dependence on suppliers; short product life cycles and reductions in unit selling prices; delays in development or shipment of new products; lack of market acceptance of our new products or services; inability to continue to develop competitive new products and services on a timely basis; introduction of new products or services by major competitors; our ability to attract and retain qualified employees; inability to expand our operations to support increased growth; and declining economic conditions, including a recession. These and other factors and risks associated with our business are discussed from time to time within our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

CONTACT:
Equiti-trend Advisors LLC
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SOURCE: Micro Imaging Technology, Inc.

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