Should Your Food Manufacturing Facility Use In-House Or Contract Lab Pathogen Testing? (Part One Of Two)

By Peyman Fatemi, Ph.D., VP of Scientific Affairs, The Acheson Group

A food testing program is an important component of a comprehensive food safety and quality assurance program. In these programs, testing often serves among the verification steps that the preventive controls that have been implemented are effective. This includes verification of the raw material and finished product specifications, verification of the HACCP — and where applicable, the HARPC program — sanitation, surveillance, and at times, the investigation of problems.

Testing is performed on a combination of organisms, some of which serve as indicators of the hygienic conditions or whether specific processing parameters are met. Others are more specific, such as foodborne pathogens that impact the public health and the safety of the food supply. To do this, food companies must decide whether to keep the testing In-House or contract it to an outside laboratory.

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