Food microbiology capability testing (PT) is a valuable device to evaluate the insightful exhibitions among labs. PT things ought to be near routine examples to precisely assess the agreeableness of the techniques. Notwithstanding, most PT suppliers convey only fake examples, for example, reference materials or lighted nourishments. This raises the issue of the reasonableness of these examples in light of the fact that the comparability—or 'commutability'— between results got on fake versus legitimate food tests has not been illustrated. In the clinical field, the utilization of noncommutable PT tests has prompted incorrect assessment of the exhibitions when diverse logical techniques were utilized. This investigation planned to give a first appraisal of the commutability of tests appropriated in food microbiology PT.

Capability testing (PT), additionally called interlaboratory examinations, has been led for 50 years to control labs, to survey their exhibitions and to orchestrate the insightful systems. These outer quality controls are the most ideal approach to guarantee that an example examined by various research centers will yield predictable and precise insightful outcomes, paying little mind to which lab led the examinations (Vander Heyden and Smeyers‐Verbeke 2007). Today, standard interest in PTs is necessary for research facilities under ISO 17025 (Anonymous 2005a) certificate.

Most microbiology PT suppliers still solely disseminate reference materials (for example pellets or powders) or sterile lattices (for example skim milk powder or lighted meat) that are misleadingly immunized with lyophilized microbial strains: these examples are not difficult to create, generally steady and offer an exact alloted benefit. Notwithstanding, a portion of these fake PT things are a long way from the food tests investigated regularly and the issue of their 'qualification for reason' or 'commutability' has been raised.

In the field of food microbiology, many PT schemes are organized to evaluate the analytical performances of the laboratories in conditions close to routine. The ISO 22117 (Anonymous 2010b) standard for the organization of food microbiology PT specifies that the nature of the PT samples is a critical feature, as the analyses must detect one target micro‐organism in the presence of an important background flora and interfering biological substances. Following this standard, many ‘matrix‐related effects’ are likely to influence the results during the analysis of real food products, such as the presence of bacteriostatic components, the natural flora of the sample or the interaction between fats and fibres and resident micro‐organisms.

Editorial Team

Food microbiology safety and hygiene,
Brussels, Belgium

Ph. No: +34 911 877 608,