Sample Prep Standards Ensure Safety

Tortorello and Jaykus started by e-mailing the list of participants in the applied methods segment of the IAFP Annual Meeting. Nineteen of them responded favorably. The group consists of members from industry, regulatory agencies, and academia and hopes to attract more interest with the white paper.

Tapping Universities

While members of the food industry would have an obvious interest in the topic, Tortorello points out that there is a great deal of expertise available in academia as well. She hopes to draw on the knowledge of both groups. Tortorello adds that she is not working with the group in an official FDA capacity and that the FDA is not overseeing the working group. She is, instead, a member of the working group representing her own interest in the issue.

During the initial meeting, the working group debated how to choose sample prep methods and collect samples, discussed the current information gaps, and tried to define needed research and improvements. “We didn’t always agree on things,” Tortorello says. “It was a lively discussion.”

Also meeting for the first time was a subcommittee of the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (NACMC). It is charged with determining the most appropriate technologies for the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to adopt in performing routine and baseline microbiological analyses. The group will develop guidance and recommendations for the FSIS for improving both laboratory and in-plant testing methods for pathogens and indicator organisms.

According to an NACMC update, “this project will assist the agency with its goal of moving into the next generation of microbiological testing methods and will focus on exploring the utility of new technologies.”

The formation of the working group to put together a compendium for sample testing follows the FDA’s July 2007 launch of the Manufactured Food Regulatory Program Standards, which were designed to encourage state agencies to adopt more uniform enforcement of FDA regulations. The program is voluntary, but the agency hopes it will lead to more consistent enforcement across the United States.

That enforcement is crucial; foodborne diseases cause approximately 76 million illnesses, 325,000 hospitalizations, and 5,000 deaths in the United States each year. These program standards are expected to set out best practices for protecting consumers from such foodborne illnesses.

McLeod is a freelance writer based in Eugene, Ore.