Congratulations - They’ve Done It Again!

Food Protection Trends’ Most-Viewed General Interest Publication Award has gone to the members of the Verification/Validation Subgroup of IAFP’s Analytical Methods Professional Development Group for the third time. The 2024 award is for their article entitled “Evaluating Microbiological Method Equivalence – A Decision Guide” published in the May/June 2023 issue of Food Protection Trends. Members of the Subgroup include industry and regulatory experts, including professionals from Deibel Laboratories. This article is part of a series discussing validation of new food matrices for use with accredited rapid methods. The focus has been on determining a more practical approach for conducting these types of studies.

“Evaluating Microbiological Method Equivalence – A Decision Guide” discusses the criteria for selection of a validated microbiological method when circumstances arise that cause a laboratory to change methods. In such an event, how is a laboratory to determine whether two methods are equivalent to one another if neither of them is a reference method? This is a critical decision that affects a company’s assessment of the appropriateness of their Food Safety system. There are various factors that a laboratory can consider when determining which equivalent method to use including cost, time to results, or an affinity for a method they have been using for years. A thought process to guide this decision is outlined in this article, providing a rationale to determine equivalency between a variety of accredited methods validated for the same matrix and sample size. This allows flexibility and choice so that laboratories are able to meet critical needs efficiently when situations arise such as kit shortages, equipment malfunction,
and increasing costs.

Past publications in Food Protections Trends by the Validation and Verification Subgroup include:
• Selection of Pathogen Strains for Evaluating Rapid Pathogen Test Methods Applied to New
Matrices (2023 Most-Viewed FPT General Interest Publication Award)
• Alternative Approaches for Qualitative Microbiological Method Matrix Additions
• Microbiological Detection Methods—Assuring the Right Fit (2020 Most-Viewed FPT General
Interest Publication Award)

Look for the Subgroups most recent article in the upcoming July/August issue of Food Protection Trends.