Environmental Testing

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The new XP-Design Assay Salmonella Serotyping Solution from Bio-Rad enables rapid detection and precise characterization of Salmonella in food and environmental samples.

Honeywell’s new Digital Holographic Microscopy technology leverages artificial intelligence (AI) and light-based holograms to quantify and classify microscopic particles and cells at the point-of-use. It can be used for liquid food safety and quality testing, as well as air and water environmental monitoring.

Classical approaches to environmental monitoring through "seek-and-destroy," while useful, can be enhanced with source tracking approaches applied in food production facilities. Such approaches have great potential to enhance food safety. However, these methods will look different when applied by academia and government, in contrast to the approaches recommended for industry. 

Resulting from dialogues held by the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy's Food Safety Committee, this article shares some of the learnings industry has assimilated for Cronobacter control by following the journey of a theoretical ready-to-eat (RTE) dry powder plant striving to eliminate Cronobacter in its environment.

A Biosurveillance Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (BISR) system would address two mission-critical requirements for biosurveillance to detect and prevent outbreaks: rapid detection and predictive analysis.

A recent study has analyzed methods of environmental monitoring for Listeria monocytogenes in food production facilities, comparing two alternative methods against a traditional culture-based method.

A fully automated assay to detect Cyclospora cayetanensis, developed under a Research Collaboration Agreement between the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Rheonix, is now available to food and environmental testing laboratories, and has been proven to achieve consistent detection rates in samples of high-risk fresh produce with low levels of oocysts.

In this Food Safety Insights column, we continue to explore processors' near-term priorities for food safety programs, as well as the regulations and issues they are watching that will have the most impact on their programs in the future. Food safety culture, microbiological control (including environmental monitoring), and sanitation and hygiene are three of processors' indicated top priorities for the near term.

Implementing an effective Listeria environmental monitoring program enables knowledge of where Listeria can enter, harbor, and move through a facility, which is the first step toward keeping the pathogen on the run and not allowing it to impact production surfaces or finished product.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA’s FSIS) has updated its sampling program for cell-cultured meat and poultry products, providing new instructions to inspection personnel and enforcement officers.