Tuesday, July 28, 2009 - 2:00 PM
S94

Importance of Validated Methods for International and Domestic Trade

DeAnn Benesh, 3M Food Safety Department, 3M, 3M Center; Bldg 260-6B-01, St. Paul, MN 55144

Food companies spend millions of dollars each year to ensure the integrity and wholesomeness of their products.  Due to numerous outbreaks in the last few years, and particularly in the first half of this year, consumer awareness of food safety has dramatically increased.  Consumers insist on the availability of their favorite foods both in and out of season and expect uncompromised food safety and quality, regardless of the foods’ source.   The livelihood of food growers and companies depends on the confidence they can provide their customers.

 

The methods used to evaluate foods and production environments to determine food safety and quality, must be validated to ensure they are ‘appropriate for use’.  Although most countries have their own official reference methods based on traditional culture methods, technical innovation has provided for the availability today, of a number of rapid methods.  How can one be sure these rapid methods are comparable to country-specific official methods, will meet requirements for international trade with another country?

 

Several international organizations, such as AOAC INTERNATIONAL, AFNOR and MicroVal, aim to provide a standardized approach to method validation, based on internationally-recognized reference methods. Comparison of these similarities and differences will be presented, as well as the latest collaboration efforts between AOAC INTERNATIONAL and MicroVal to streamline and harmonize their validation processes.


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