Sampling/Sample Prep

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA’s FSIS) has released a notice informing agency inspection program personnel about the continuation of and changes to the Raw Pork Products Sampling Program.

The International Dairy Federation (IDF) recently published a new document to help the dairy industry conduct in-process product sampling that produces accurate and actionable microbiological data. 

Non-cultivable foodborne pathogens, such as enteric viruses and protozoan parasites like Cyclospora, present unique challenges in our food system due to significant limitations in sampling and detection. This article covers the methodological drawbacks of current methods related to interpretation of results and public health risk, while offering alternative food safety management principles to address the prevalence of these pathogens in food.

After reviewing its sampling and testing programs, USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) will implement changes to its sampling programs for Fiscal Year (FY) 2024. The agency also explained its sampling and testing priorities.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has launched a new exploratory sampling program for antibiotic residues in cattle that are claimed to be raised without antibiotics. 

A recent study conducted by researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign concluded that, when sampling powdered infant formula for Cronobacter contamination, sampling with stratification may be more powerful than random sampling, and that taking more samples, even if smaller, increases the ability to detect contamination.

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.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA’s FSIS) has notified constituents that establishments wishing to adopt the cloth sampling method (i.e., manual sampling device or continuous sampling device) for Shiga Toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) testing of raw beef products no longer require a “No Objection Letter” (NOL) from FSIS.

bioMérieux’s new GENE-UP® ENVIROPRO™ detects both Salmonella and Listeria from environmental swabbing, including PCR confirmation.

A pervasive trend exists to take larger and more frequent samples to address microbial contamination. This trend has touched almonds and is expected to hit other nut products, which can be considered for aggregated sampling as a solution.