Lab Chiefs Assess Current State of Testing

A revolution in the accountability and quality of food laboratory testing may be underway due to the Food Safety Modernization Act. Already, proposed regulations acknowledge the significant role laboratory testing plays in the detection and identification of microbiological and chemical hazards. They call for the use of verification testing, environmental monitoring, and product testing, and outline procedures to account for these activities. A section of the law calls for the recognition of laboratory accreditation and the development of model laboratory standards, all of which may set a new benchmark that all food laboratories must strive to meet.

Microbiologics, a global provider of biological reference materials used in laboratory quality control processes, commissioned a third-party survey to ascertain the level of laboratory standards currently employed by food laboratories. The survey offered 186 food laboratory directors, quality assurance managers, and technical supervisors the opportunity to participate in an online survey. Surveys were sent to individuals working in laboratories within food manufacturing companies and to independent food laboratories. Individual responses are anonymous and Microbiologics only received results reported in the aggregate.

Lab Demographics

When asked where testing is conducted for their facility, 37 percent stated an onsite laboratory is used while 15 percent used a contract laboratory. A majority of respondents, 63 percent, used both an onsite and contract laboratory to meet their food testing needs.

These laboratories fulfill a wide range of testing needs. A majority of respondents, greater than 60 percent, indicated each of the following testing types are conducted by their laboratories: environmental monitoring, finished product testing, ingredient testing, raw material testing, verification testing, and validation testing.

Survey participants using onsite laboratories noted that only 42 percent of those laboratories are accredited, with the majority, 58 percent, not accredited. For those respondents using contract laboratories, 90 percent said that those laboratories are accredited, with 5 percent not accredited, and the remaining 5 percent unsure of the accreditation status.

Seventy-seven percent of the laboratory leaders stated that having laboratories accredited to an internationally-recognized standard, particularly ISO 17025, was important to them. Fifteen percent of the respondents were unsure if this was an important credential, and 8 percent stated that it was not important to them.

Upholding Quality Standards

Quality controls are used as part of a food laboratory’s processes and procedures to assure that its test methods are reliably detecting specific pathogens. Of survey respondents using onsite laboratories, 81 percent stated that their laboratory uses quality control materials as part of its testing processes and procedures. Twelve percent said that quality control materials were used sometimes, 4 percent stated that no quality control materials were used, and 4 percent did not know.

Of survey participants using contract laboratories, 67 percent stated that quality control materials were used. Almost a third (29 percent) were unsure if the contract laboratory used quality control materials, and 5 percent indicated that quality controls were used sometimes.

Proficiency testing, where a laboratory will receive and perform testing on unknown specimens from an impartial third-party source, is a form of external quality control.

Eighty-five percent of respondents stated that their onsite laboratory participated in proficiency testing, while about half (52 percent) of the contract laboratories did. The other half of the respondents (48 percent) stated that they did not know if their contract laboratory participated in proficiency testing. Fifteen percent of the onsite laboratories did not participate in proficiency testing.