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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania » Eastern Regional Research Center » Characterization and Interventions for Foodborne Pathogens » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #264902
Title: Statistics of sampling for microbiological testing of foodborne pathogens

Author
item ROSS, THOMAS - University Of Tasmania
item Fratamico, Pina
item JAYKUS, LEEANN - North Carolina State University
item ZWEITERING, MARCEL - University Of Wageningen

Submitted to: Rapid Detection, Characterization, and Enumeration of Food-Borne Pathogens
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/11/2011
Publication Date: 6/11/2011
Citation: Ross, T., Fratamico, P.M., Jaykus, L., Zweitering, M. 2011. Statistics of sampling for microbiological testing of foodborne pathogens. In: Hoorfar, J., editor. Rapid Detection, Characterization, and Enumeration of Food-Borne Pathogens. Danvers, MA: ASM Press. p. 103-120.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Despite the many recent advances in protocols for testing for pathogens in foods, a number of challenges still exist. For example, the microbiological safety of food cannot be completely ensured by testing because microorganisms are not evenly distributed throughout the food. Therefore, since it is not possible to test the entire food lot, a statistical sampling plan must be developed to determine how many samples must be tested to have some confidence that the whole lot is free of the target pathogen. Understanding the reliability of sampling plans is, therefore, important for food safety management. When the level of the target pathogen is high, the sampling error is relatively small; however, when the contamination level is low, the error based on presence/absence tests can be large and affect the interpretation of results. Advances in the analysis of microbiological sampling plans have presented analytical approaches to accommodate the influence of sampling errors. However, although a well-designed sampling plan improves the probability of detecting microorganisms in food, no sampling plan can completely ensure the absence of a particular organism in a particular lot of food. This chapter describes the basic concepts of sampling plan nomenclature, design, and interpretation, complementing the other chapters in this text, which cover rapid detection, identification, and enumeration technologies.