Eastman Announces Food Safety Diagnostics Business

Centrus to offer unique and advantaged technologies that reduce costs and ensure product quality

Kingsport, TN - Eastman Chemical Company announces the launch of Centrus International, Inc., a diagnostics business dedicated to providing rapid microbiology testing solutions to food, dairy, meat and nutraceutical processing, as well as other industrial markets.

Centrus manufactures and markets diagnostics systems to rapidly detect microbial contamination in products and raw materials. The systems can be utilized to identify pathogenic bacteria (e.g., E. coli O157) and various groups of routine organisms such as coliform bacteria, Enterobacteriaceae, yeasts and molds, and lactic acid bacteria.

For food processing customers, Centrus diagnostic systems are designed to provide fast, actionable microbial test results. Centrus products and services leverage Eastman's core strengths in analytical chemistry, polymer chemistry and biotechnology capabilities. These capabilities, combined with the advantages of the Centrus product lines, position Eastman at the cutting edge of food quality solutions. Centrus will also leverage Eastman's many other core capabilities and infrastructure to drive continual innovation and ensure maximum cost competitiveness.

With the current trend to maximize supply chain efficiency in global businesses, faster, accurate test results can enhance decision-making, streamline processes and improve profitability – all critically important to the customers served by Centrus. The Centrus diagnostics portfolio combines remarkable sensitivity with extraordinary accuracy to produce faster, actionable test results to help food processors ensure product quality.

Centrus is a wholly owned subsidiary of Eastman and will be located in Kingsport, Tenn. The establishment of this business within Eastman's Developing Businesses Division brings together technologies developed in-house, in-licensed, as well as acquired. Prior to establishing Centrus, Eastman acquired BioSys, Inc., the manufacturer of BioSys 32 and BioSys 128 automated microbial test systems. Under Centrus, this technology will be known as Soleris™. For more information about Centrus products and services, visit www.CentrusInternational.com.

Eastman Chemical Company
Eastman Chemical Company (NYSE:EMN), headquartered in Kingsport, Tenn., manufactures and markets chemicals, fibers and plastics worldwide. The company employs approximately 12,000 people and had 2004 sales of US$6.6 billion. To learn more about Eastman and its products, visit www.eastman.com.

Source: Eastman Chemical Company