Effective Microbiological Sampling of Food Processing Environments

This guideline provides essential advice to help technical personnel to devise suitable and effective plans to systematically sample the food environment, ensuring the safety of food produced in that environment. Its step-by-step advice takes technical and laboratory managers, and HACCP teams through every stage of the process: from background information, through strategies and sampling methods, to the processing and interpretation of results. Contents include: Why sample the food processing environment? • Routes of contamination • Sampling strategies • Sampling site and frequency • Sampling methods • Sample transport and processing • Interpretation of results. This guideline is specifically focused on the food environment; other guidelines which cover the food itself are also available.