The first of hundreds of thousands of beef samples soon will be making their way into a new lab operation in western Lawrence, part of a new contract to connect high-tech food testing with products destined for information-starved consumers.

Such work is helping secure employment for a dozen people, with perhaps dozens more to come.

Identigen Ltd., an Ireland-based biosciences company with its new North American operations based in Lawrence, announced Tuesday that it had landed a deal to provide DNA-tracking tests for all beef products to be sold through Tesco stores in Ireland.

Terms were not disclosed.

Identigen’s tests can show that the beef taken from a particular animal at a packing plant indeed makes it to the shelves in a grocery store. That, in turn, allows retailers to add value by ensuring to customers that products are coming from premium breeds, specific locations or meeting other criteria deemed valuable.

Beef products for Tesco Ireland will come from an estimated 300,000 animals next year, all to have samples tested in Lawrence.

“It is accurate, reliable and cost-effective for us to use,” said Liam Forsyth, meat buyer for Tesco Ireland.

As the world’s fourth-largest retailer, Tesco is a “significant” opportunity for Identigen, said Don Marvin, Identigen’s president and chief executive officer for North American operations. And such opportunities stretch beyond the traditional finances of a deal, or the validation of the company’s technology by being embraced by a major corporate player.

Not to be lost in Tuesday’s announcement, Marvin said: Each and every Tesco-branded beef package in Ireland will carry Identigen’s “TraceBack” logo, exposure that soon could expand to other Tesco markets and locations.

Tesco is considered Europe’s version of Wal-Mart and already operates in more than a dozen countries. It plans to enter the United States – starting in California, Nevada and Arizona – early next year.

“I can assure you that there’s a company located down there in Bentonville, Arkansas, that’s paying a lot of attention to that – a lot of attention,” Marvin said.

Marvin sees the Tesco deal as opening the door to pacts with other Tesco divisions and other major sellers of meat products, from supermarket chains on up.

“I don’t think it’s a question of landing them; it’s when we will land them,” Marvin said. “They definitely will come on board. You’ve got to understand: We’re starting to gain traction in the marketplace, and once this train starts leaving the station, then everyone wants to get on that train.”

Marvin may be the engineer in North America, but he plans to have plenty of help. His Identigen operation already has a dozen employees working out of its Lawrence labs and offices, which opened in July at 4824 Quail Crest Place; as many as 30 should be in place there by the end of 2007.

Adding more retailers and suppliers will be expected to boost that total, he said.

“Within five years there will be 200 to 300 employees in the company, most of them in Kansas,” Marvin said. “Will Lawrence be our only facility in the future? Probably not. But will Lawrence probably be one of our largest, if not the largest, operation? I think that’s probably true.”