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Food Safety

FSMA Laboratory Accreditation

FDA Proposes FSMA Lab Accreditation Program

Title II, Section 202 of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), signed into law in January 2011, instructed the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to establish a program for the testing of food by accredited laboratories. FSMA stipulated that accredited labs must possess “a demonstrated capability to conduct one or more sampling and analytical testing

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Q Laboratories Expert

Q Laboratories Sales Director to Speak at IFT Florida Event

Q Laboratories Director of Sales for the Food Industry, Will Melnyczenko is the Special Guest and Featured Speaker at the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Florida Section Holiday Dinner on December 3rd in Orlando. The topic of the presentation will be, “Challenge Testing vs Shelf Life Testing – Navigating the Differences.” Will has nearly 20

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New Era of Smarter Food Safety

FDA Extends Smarter Food Safety Comment Period

The Food and Drug Administration has extended the comment period regarding the New Era of Smarter Food Safety initiative. Originally targeted for November 20th, the new “comment by” date is now December 20th. Smarter Food Safety Intended to build upon the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), the Smarter Food Safety initiative emphasizes utilizing modern technology

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qlabs-brucker

Q Laboratories Partners with Bruker on New Official Methods Approvals

MALDI Biotyper® Receives AOAC International Approvals  Q Laboratories served as the lead laboratory for two studies gaining AOAC-Official Methods of Analysis (OMA) Status for the Bruker MALDI BioTyper® (MBT): Confirmation and Identification of Salmonella spp, Cronobacter spp. and Other Gram Negative Organisms by MBT Method (OMA#2017.09) and  Confirmation and Identification of Listeria monocytogenes, Listeria spp. and

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qlabs-opens-food-virus-lab

Q Laboratories Opens Food Virus Lab

Q Laboratories has opened a state-of-the-art Food Virus Detection Laboratory at their Cincinnati, Ohio location. Utilizing Real-Time PCR technology, Q Laboratories can test food, water, environmental swabs, and food surface swabs for the presence of Norovirus (GI and GII) and Hepatitis A. The lab was purpose-built specifically for virus detection, involving a three-room dirty to

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qlabs-method-verification

When Do I Need a Method Verification?

In this age of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) it is increasingly important that the methods you (or your third-party lab) are using are validated by a recognized organization. Methods contained in the FDA Bacteriological Analytical Manual (FDA-BAM), the USDA-FSIS Microbiology Laboratory Guidebook, as well as methods approved by independent, non-governmental bodies such as

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qlabs-env-monitoring-photo

Environmental Monitoring Design Utilizing the Zone Concept

With the implementation of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), as well as the recently released FDA Guidance on controlling Listeria monocytogenes in RTE foods, it is more important than ever to have a carefully designed, robust Environmental Monitoring (EM) program in your food manufacturing plant. Effective design of your EM program is essential to

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qlabs-3-day-yeast-and-mold-results

Q Laboratories, Inc. Now Offers 3-day Yeast and Mold Results

Q Laboratories, Inc. is excited to offer our clients faster turn-around times for their Yeast and Mold testing. Utilizing the Biomerieux TEMPO® YM Assay, results that used to take five days can now be turned around in three.  TEMPO® YM is an official AOAC Research Institute Performance Tested Method for numerous matrices including, cheese, yogurt,

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Low Moisture Foods Prove Problematic

While traditionally considered low risk, low moisture foods are susceptible to pathogen contamination as evidenced by recent cases of Salmonella contamination in dairy powder, paprika powder, black pepper, toasted oats cereal, peanut butter, and chia powder. Research has shown that while pathogens do not thrive in low moisture foods, they do survive very well in

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Food Recalls – Environmental Monitoring

Two (at least) recent food recalls were the result of FDA inspectors finding a positive pathogen result on an environmental monitoring (EM) sample, such as a swab or sponge. More troubling to hear was the fact that the positive result came from a sample taken from a Zone 3 or 4 location, meaning a non-food

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