What are the Best Practices of Food Testing Laboratories

To ensure the products released in the market are safe for consumption and free of contaminants, food testing and production laboratories must adhere to a set of laws and regulations.

FREMONT, CA: Globalization and population growth have pushed the food business to meet the ever-increasing demand. More demand necessitates increased output and a shorter timescale to meet market demands. As a result, there will be more food safety breaches and food fraud. Biological and chemical contaminants in food can cause large-scale worldwide pandemics by causing severe outbreaks of foodborne diseases. Inspection, quality control, correct sample techniques, and rigorous testing have taken center stage in many food processing and in-house or contract testing units due to globalization and a large supply chain of products and components.

Plan for Food Safety Management

The most important food safety practice is to create a Food Safety Management strategy that includes real-time product safety testing capabilities at all phases of production, processing, and distribution. Furthermore, these methods must correspond to international food safety regulations. A good plan is more of a preventative approach than a defensive/offensive response to any probable infection/outbreak. Complete tracking of food samples from farm to fork and quality control are two main responsive/preventive steps.

Traceability of Samples

Food items and raw ingredients are tracked along the supply chain, or in laboratory terms, across the production line, packing, and delivery. Traceability ensures that any food item or its raw ingredients are accounted for at any point during the manufacturing process. It allows for more accessible quality control during food sampling and safety testing. Not only are recalls and production losses a key consequence of poor food safety management, but so is reputational harm.

Quality Control (QC) and Quality Assurance (QA)

The food safety management plan should include quality control and quality assurance. QA/QC assures that the food items available for consumption fulfill all of the established safety standards. Pesticide residues, herbicides, pathogens, routine organisms, allergens, food contaminants, antibiotic residues, and veterinary medications are tested in animal-origin food by food testing laboratories. QC and QA aid food and beverage testing facilities in establishing standards and identifying results out of specification. A food product's safety for eating is validated by proper QC and QA, which lowers the scope of a food recall.