Testing & Analysis

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As part of an effort to reduce cases of salmonellosis attributable to poultry products, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA’s FSIS) conducted a study with the Food Emergency Response Network (FERN) laboratories to gather data on not-ready-to-eat (NRTE) breaded stuffed chicken products purchased at retail stores.

Cleaning program validation that primarily relies on adenosine triphosphate (ATP) monitoring can yield poor results if a few basic strategies are not incorporated into the sampling program to eliminate bias. These include probability sampling, uniformity of the sample, as well as understanding the limitation of the test instrument and the interpretation of results.

Expert scientists from nine African countries convened recently in Accra, Ghana to launch a new wave of diagnostic testing using DNA sequencing aimed at improving food safety and controlling antimicrobial resistance (AMR). 

Bureau Veritas has announced the opening of its fourth U.S. food laboratory, located in Chesterfield, Missouri.

Salmonella infection is one of the most commonly reported causes of foodborne illness, resulting in over 80 million cases of foodborne salmonellosis each year globally.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has provided and update on the agency’s activities to better understand per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the food supply, including recent testing results, progress on seafood-related work, and advances in testing methods.

The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) has published a Post-Implementation Review of the 2013 Food Safety Sampling and Qualifications Regulations (S&Q Regulations), which is now available for public comment.

A recent study has demonstrated the benefits of interagency collaboration during foodborne illness outbreak investigations. The study was conducted by researchers from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (FDA’s CFSAN) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 

Some will argue that more sensitive methods are needed to drive change. This is a reasonable argument, but it misses the underlying problem of defining the mission before implementing a sampling and testing program.

Researchers from the Singapore Food Agency’s National Center for Food Science and the National University of Singapore have developed a real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) approach for the detection of viable Salmonella Enteritidis contamination in shell eggs, which would accelerate the traditional Salmonella testing process if integrated.