Food Safety Resources
APHL advances laboratory practice by increasing the competence of laboratory staff, improving the capabilities of member laboratories and strengthening the credibility of results generated by food testing laboratories. The APHL products and external resources below were collected to support these goals.​
Questions?
Contact the Food Safety team: [email protected]
Checklists
Checklist outlining essential elements necessary to maintain the integrity of samples used for legal evidence.
For use when preparing data packages for review by a compliance officer for possible regulatory action. A product of the Partnership for Food Protection Laboratory Science Workgroup.
Workflows
The goal of this document is to provide public health laboratories with methods to isolate and identify Salmonella spp. from stool specimens as efficiently as possible.
This guide provides a workflow for the isolation and identification of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) from human fecal specimens identified as positive for STEC by a culture-independent diagnostic test (CIDT).
This guide provides a workflow for the isolation and identification of Shigella species from human fecal specimens identified as positive for Shigella and Enteroinvasive Escherichia coli (EIEC) by a culture-independent diagnostic test (CIDT).
This guide provides a workflow for the isolation and identification of Vibrio species from human fecal specimens identified as positive by a culture-independent diagnostic test (CIDT).
Fact Sheets
Facts sheet on the use of culture-independent diagnostic tests (CIDTs) in disease detection and surveillance, and recommendations for clinical and public health laboratories, CDC and manufacturers.
PulseNet provides an economic benefit about 70 times greater than its cost by quickly identifying problems in the food supply that would not otherwise be recognized. Fact sheet from CDC.
An update on the efforts of APHL, AFDO and AAFCO to support laboratory accreditation to the FDA's ISO/IEC 17025:2005 standard.
Guidance Documents
Guidance for public health laboratories on best practices for detecting Shiga-toxin Escherichia coli (STEC) disease calling for partnerships between clinical and public laboratories to ensure accurate diagnosis and public health action taken.
Guidance for clinical specimens, isolate submission and communications for cases of invasive Cronobacter illness in infants (<12 months old), as well as product testing recommendations. From a FDA-CDC-APHL-CSTE Cronobacter Workgroup.
Interim guidelines for submitting enteric pathogens from positive culture-independent diagnostic test (CIDT) specimens to public health agengies.
An analysis of state legal requirements governing the submission of isolates and other materials to public health laboratories by clinical laboratories
Reports
Results from the 2019 Food Safety Surveillance and Testing Practices Survey.
A report on survey results from laboratories that have achieved or are working towards ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation.
Papers
From APHL
Overview of NCS and the RLTS and how it provides consistency and comparability across jurisdictions by enhancing the current training system resulting in trainings that are more flexible, more accessible and more focused on measurable competence.
Published in ASM JCM Point-Counterpoint. Outlines why having access to isolates of enteric pathogens is essential for public health surveillance, detection and tracking of outbreaks and offers potential workable solutions which will allow them to do this.
From Partners
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Novel Surveillance Network for Norovirus Gastroenteritis Outbreaks in US
CDC Emerging Infectious Diseases, August 2011This article discusses the origin of the CaliciNet and how the network standardized genotyping of norovirus strains, comparison of sequences from outbreaks that have a common source, and lead to the identification of new strain in real-time.