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.

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.

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

AMETEK MOCON® has expanded its versatile portfolio of permeation analyzers with the introduction of the new HR model to the OX-TRAN® 2/28 instrument series.

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.

The Association of Official Agricultural Chemists Africa Section (AOAC Africa) has established a partnership with the African Organization for Standardization (ARSO) to develop analytical methods for the continent’s most widely consumed foods. 

Hanna Instruments Inc. has released its new Advanced Benchtop Meter Series, which includes three new models for testing pH, conductivity, and dissolved oxygen.

In this bonus episode of Food Safety Matters, we speak with Trevor Craig, Corporate Director of Technical Training and Consulting at Microbac Laboratories, about the dates on consumer food packaging, their impacts on shelf life and food safety and quality (FSQ), and the role Microbac can play in helping industry manage FSQ risks.
 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has worked with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to update the protocol for the development and registration of antimicrobial treatments for preharvest agricultural water, removing Listeria monocytogenes from the organism test panel.

More than 200 food safety experts across 14 countries in Asia and the Pacific have been trained in the use of the use of nuclear techniques to test for microbial and chemical hazards, through a project led by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).