032-044 Dahms

Introduction It is nearly 30 years ago that the International Commission on Microbiological Specifications for Foods (ICMSF) provided urgently needed guidance on the use of sampling plans and microbiological criteria for foods in international trade. With publications like “Microorganisms in Foods 2: Sampling for Microbiological Analysis: Principles and Specific Applications” (1) and now “Microorganisms in Foods 7: Microbiological Testing in Food Safety Management” (2) ICMSF introduced concepts of probability and sampling into microbiological criteria and developed a scheme for selection of cases and attributes plans in order to establish criteria for food lot acceptance. Dependent on the conditions in which food is expected to be handled and consumed in the usual course of events and on the degree of concern relative to food utility and health hazard, 15 cases have been distinguished by ICMSF that require increasing stringency of acceptance sampling. Two general types of sampling plans, attributes sampling plans and variables sampling plans, are used in microbiological testing to make decisions concerning the safety or quality of foods. Attributes plans are used to evaluate qualitative data (presence-absence) or quantitative data that have been grouped (e.g., <10 cfu, 10 to 100 cfu, >100 cfu), whereas variables plans evaluate non-grouped quantitative data. However, despite their wide use and adoption, microbiological criteria and sampling plans are not fully understood, especially with regard to their statistical background, and in relation to other risk management approaches such as HACCP or Food Safety Objectives. This paper gives an overview on the design of sampling plans forming part of microbiological criteria for foods and on characteristics that determine their reliability and performance. Lectures