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Food sampling is a process used to check that a food is safe and that it does not contain harmful contaminants, or that it contains only permitted additives at acceptable levels, or that it contains the right levels of key ingredients and its label declarations are correct, or to know the levels of nutrients present.
A food sample is carried out by subjecting the product to physical analysis. Analysis may be undertaken by or on behalf of a manufacturer regarding their own product, or for official food law enforcement or control purposes, or for research or public information.
To undertake any analysis, unless the whole amount of food to be considered is very small so that the food can be used for testing in its entirety, it is usually necessary for a portion of it to be taken (e.g. a small quantity from a full production batch, or a portion of what is on sale in a shop) – this process is known as food sampling.
In most cases with food to be analysed there are two levels of sampling – the first being selection of a portion from the whole, which is then submitted to a laboratory for testing, and the second being the laboratory's taking of the individual amounts necessary for individual tests that may be applied. It is the former that is 'food sampling': the latter is analytical laboratory 'sub-sampling', often relying upon initial homogenisation of the entire submitted sample.
Where it is intended that the results of any analysis to relate to the food as a whole it is crucially important that the sample is representative of that whole – and the results of any analysis can only be meaningful if the sampling is undertaken effectively. This is true whether the 'whole' is a manufacturer's entire production batch, or where it is a single item but too large to all be used for the test.
Factors relevant in considering the representativeness of a sample include the homogeneity of the food, the relative sizes of the sample to be taken and the whole, the potential degree of variation of the parameter(s) in question through the whole, and the significance and intended use of the analytical result.
Food manufacturers and producers would need to satisfy themselves that any sample taken for analysis is sufficiently representative of the food for the analytical result to be meaningful. This is true whether the data are to be used as the basis of labelling declarations, assurance of compliance with legislative or other standards, monitoring of production as part of HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points), or for routine quality control.
In the United Kingdom although various guidance is available, either from manufacturers' associations or from sources of standards such as British Standards Institution (such as British Standard BS6001), some of which may be relevant to certain food types. It is largely down to manufacturers to make their own evaluations of need and suitability. This must be translated into an assessment both of sample portion size and number, and the frequency of taking samples.
To ensure food safety and quality, some food samples which are perishable require certain tests and analyses. The following tests and analyses can be conducted:
In the United Kingdom, enforcement is under the Food Safety Act 1990. Food sampling is undertaken primarily by local authorities and port health authorities for submission to public analysts for analysis. Much of the legislation relates to food as supplied to a consumer, meaning that every portion of a size of perishable food and foods at risk as may be supplied to a consumer has to comply, so that in such cases the sample submitted for analysis could simply be an entire consumer-sized portion. There are exceptions, however, such as the sampling of nut products for the presence of aflatoxins, which stipulate a primary sample size related to the size of the consignment – with associated requirements for initial homogenisation to produce a smaller sample to be sent for analysis.
The Food Safety Act 1990 [1] affords a right for defence analysis, and for referee analysis in case of disputed analytical results, by stipulating that except where to do so would prevent effective analysis the sample must be divided into three parts. The UK Food Standards Agency [2] provides supplementary guidance to the enforcement authorities to assist with the sampling process and associated decisions by sampling officers.
There is no set frequency or rate for the sampling of food for law enforcement in the UK. Between the 1930s and 1990s there had been a guideline minimum rate for sampling for chemical analysis (not including samples for microbiological examination) of 2.5 samples per annum per 1000 head of population, however that was an arbitrary figure and more recent thinking suggested that the selection of a frequency for sampling should be based on risk. In this context risk includes all 'consumer protection' issues such as pecuniary disadvantage from substandard or counterfeit products, as well as risk to health. The Association of Public Analysts was commissioned by the Food Standards Agency to look into this, culminating in a scheme for Risk Based Sampling, [3] [4] though it has not yet been adopted by the enforcement authorities.
In the 1993 Seinfeld episode "The Non-Fat Yogurt", frozen yogurt is sent to a laboratory for food sampling, where it is found to, in fact, contain fat. [5]
Dairy products or milk products, also known as lacticinia, are food products made from milk. The most common dairy animals are cow, water buffalo, nanny goat, and ewe. Dairy products include common grocery store food around the world such as yogurt, cheese, milk and butter. A facility that produces dairy products is a dairy. Dairy products are consumed worldwide to varying degrees. Some people avoid some or all dairy products because of lactose intolerance, veganism, environmental concerns, other health reasons or beliefs.
Yogurt is a food produced by bacterial fermentation of milk. Fermentation of sugars in the milk by these bacteria produces lactic acid, which acts on milk protein to give yogurt its texture and characteristic tart flavor. Cow's milk is most commonly used to make yogurt. Milk from water buffalo, goats, ewes, mares, camels, and yaks is also used to produce yogurt. The milk used may be homogenized or not. It may be pasteurized or raw. Each type of milk produces substantially different results.
Specific absorption rate (SAR) is a measure of the rate at which energy is absorbed per unit mass by a human body when exposed to a radio frequency (RF) electromagnetic field. It is defined as the power absorbed per mass of tissue and has units of watts per kilogram (W/kg).
The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture; it maintains programs in five commodity areas: cotton and tobacco; dairy; fruit and vegetable; livestock and seed; and poultry. These programs provide testing, standardization, grading and market news services for those commodities, and oversee marketing agreements and orders, administer research and promotion programs, and purchase commodities for federal food programs. The AMS enforces certain federal laws such as the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act and the Federal Seed Act. The AMS budget is $1.2 billion. It is headquartered in the Jamie L. Whitten Building in Washington, D.C.
The Food and Drugs Act is an act of the Parliament of Canada regarding the production, import, export, transport across provinces and sale of food, drugs, contraceptive devices and cosmetics. It was first passed in 1920 and most recently revised in 1985. It attempts to ensure that these products are safe, that their ingredients are disclosed and that drugs are effective and are not sold as food or cosmetics. It also states that cures for disease listed in Schedule A, cannot be advertised to the general public.
Combustion analysis is a method used in both organic chemistry and analytical chemistry to determine the elemental composition of a pure organic compound by combusting the sample under conditions where the resulting combustion products can be quantitatively analyzed. Once the number of moles of each combustion product has been determined the empirical formula or a partial empirical formula of the original compound can be calculated.
Public Analysts are scientists in the British Isles whose principal task is to ensure the safety and correct description of food by testing for compliance with legislation. Most Public Analysts are also Agricultural Analysts who carry out similar work on animal feedingstuffs and fertilisers. Nowadays this includes checking that the food labelling is accurate. They also test drinking water, and may carry out chemical and biological tests on other consumer products. While much of the work is done by other scientists and technicians in the laboratory, the Public Analyst has legal responsibility for the accuracy of the work and the validity of any opinion expressed on the results reported. The UK-based Association of Public Analysts includes members with similar roles if different titles in other countries.
Food safety is used as a scientific method/discipline describing handling, preparation, and storage of food in ways that prevent foodborne illness. The occurrence of two or more cases of a similar illness resulting from the ingestion of a common food is known as a food-borne disease outbreak. This includes a number of routines that should be followed to avoid potential health hazards. In this way, food safety often overlaps with food defense to prevent harm to consumers. The tracks within this line of thought are safety between industry and the market and then between the market and the consumer. In considering industry-to-market practices, food safety considerations include the origins of food including the practices relating to food labeling, food hygiene, food additives and pesticide residues, as well as policies on biotechnology and food and guidelines for the management of governmental import and export inspection and certification systems for foods. In considering market-to-consumer practices, the usual thought is that food ought to be safe in the market and the concern is safe delivery and preparation of the food for the consumer. Food safety, nutrition and food security are closely related. Unhealthy food creates a cycle of disease and malnutrition that affects infants and adults as well.
Strained yogurt, Greek or Greek-style yogurt, yogurt cheese, sack yogurt, kerned yogurt or labneh is yogurt that has been strained to remove most of its whey, resulting in a thicker consistency than normal unstrained yogurt, while still preserving the distinctive sour taste of yogurt. Like many types, strained yogurt is often made from milk enriched by boiling off some water content, or by adding extra butterfat and powdered milk. In Europe and North America, it is often made from low-fat or fat-free cow's milk. In Iceland a similar product named skyr is made.
The Consumer Safety Act (CPSA) was enacted on October 27, 1972, by the United States Congress. The act should not be confused with an earlier Senate Joint Resolution 33 of November 20, 1967, which merely established a temporary National Commission on Product Safety (NCPS), and for only 90-days. The fourth section of the law established the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) as a permanent independent agency of the United States federal government and defined its basic authority. The act gives CPSC the power to develop safety standards and pursue recalls for products that present unreasonable or substantial risks of injury or death to consumers. It also allows CPSC to ban a product if there is no feasible alternative to an outright ban. CPSC has jurisdiction over more than 15,000 different consumer products. The CPSA excludes from jurisdiction those products that expressly lie in another federal agency's jurisdiction, for example food, drugs, cosmetics, medical devices, tobacco products, firearms and ammunition, motor vehicles, pesticides, aircraft, and boats. These products may fall under the purview of agencies such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Department of Transportation, the U.S. Environment Protection Agency, and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.
The European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines & HealthCare (EDQM) is a Directorate and partial agreement of the Council of Europe that traces its origins and statutes to the Convention on the Elaboration of a European Pharmacopoeia.
Verification and validation are independent procedures that are used together for checking that a product, service, or system meets requirements and specifications and that it fulfills its intended purpose. These are critical components of a quality management system such as ISO 9000. The words "verification" and "validation" are sometimes preceded with "independent", indicating that the verification and validation is to be performed by a disinterested third party. "Independent verification and validation" can be abbreviated as "IV&V".
The Defence Food Research Laboratory (DFRL) is an Indian defence laboratory of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). Located in Mysore, Karnataka, it conducts research and development of technologies and products in the area of food science and technology to cater the varied food challenges for the Indian Armed Forces. DFRL is organised under the Life Sciences Directorate of DRDO. The present director of DFRL is Dr. A D Semwal.
The Gerber method is a primary and historic chemical test to determine the fat content of substances, most commonly milk and cream. The Gerber method is the primary testing method in Europe and much of the world. The fairly similar Babcock test is used primarily in the United States, although the Gerber method also enjoys significant use in the U.S. as well.
The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is the National Standards Body of India under Department of Consumer affairs, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Government of India. It is established by the Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 2016 which came into effect on 12 October 2017. The Minister in charge of the Ministry or Department having administrative control of the BIS is the ex-officio President of the BIS. BIS has 500 plus scientific officers working as Certification Officers, Member secretaries of technical committees and lab OIC's.
The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) was signed into law by President Barack Obama on January 4, 2011. The FSMA has given the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) new authority to regulate the way foods are grown, harvested and processed. The law grants the FDA a number of new powers, including mandatory recall authority, which the agency had sought for many years. The FSMA requires the FDA to undertake more than a dozen rulemakings and issue at least 10 guidance documents, as well as a host of reports, plans, strategies, standards, notices, and other tasks.
The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), is the public health regulatory agency responsible for ensuring that United States' commercial supply of meat, poultry, and egg products is safe, wholesome, and correctly labeled and packaged. The FSIS draws its authority from the Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1906, the Poultry Products Inspection Act of 1957 and the Egg Products Inspection Act of 1970.
Analytical quality control (AQC) refers to all those processes and procedures designed to ensure that the results of laboratory analysis are consistent, comparable, accurate and within specified limits of precision. Constituents submitted to the analytical laboratory must be accurately described to avoid faulty interpretations, approximations, or incorrect results. The qualitative and quantitative data generated from the laboratory can then be used for decision making. In the chemical sense, quantitative analysis refers to the measurement of the amount or concentration of an element or chemical compound in a matrix that differs from the element or compound. Fields such as industry, medicine, and law enforcement can make use of AQC.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is a statutory body under the administration of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. It regulates the manufacture, storage, distribution, sale, and import of food articles, while also establishing standards to ensure food safety. The FSSAI was established by the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, which consolidated all former acts and orders related to food safety that were previously handled by various ministries and departments.
A certificate of analysis (COA) is a formal laboratory-prepared document that details the results of one or more laboratory analyses, signed—manually or electronically—by an authorized representative of the entity conducting the analyses. This document gives assurances to the recipient that the analyzed item is what it is designated to be, or has the features advertised by the producer. The design and content of a COA may be based upon a set of requirements identified by the lab, by regulatory-driven requirements, and/or by standards developed by standard developing organizations. The COA is used in a wide variety of industries, including but not limited to the agriculture, chemical, clinical research, food and beverage, and pharmaceutical industries.