Proficient analysis?

In the food industry, major decisions are made on the basis of analytical results. To be confident that the methods you are using are appropriate, and carried out effectively and in the correct way, and that equipment is operating adequately, you need to test your results regularly against some kind of known standard. Participating in a proficiency scheme is the most effective way of doing this and is often a prerequisite for accreditation to laboratory schemes.

All proficiency schemes, be they for chemical, physical or microbiological analyses, typically work by providing participating laboratories with standard samples for the laboratory to analyse 'blind'. We administer several proficiency schemes. In the Campden Microbiological Proficiency Scheme (CMPS), for example, we know the level of the microorganisms (and the nature of the cocktail of mixtures) provided, but the test laboratories do not. Each laboratory analyses the sample(s) using its usual methods (which might differ from one laboratory to another) and submits its results to us. We compile and statistically analyse these results and include them in a report that also contains the 'true' result and, for each laboratory, a score (called a z-score) reflecting how close it was to the 'true' value. Each laboratory can see how it performed but cannot identify the other labs.

The Brewing Analytes Proficiency Scheme (BAPS), which we administer with LGC, works in a similar way - and includes chemical, microbiological and sensory analyses. It has the advantage that it uses commercial beers with no additions.

We also run a Foreign Bodies Identification Scheme, in which laboratories use their own methods to identify contaminating items that have been found in food products. Recent examples include fragments of stone reported from a baked product (which was reported to have damaged a tooth, resulting in a dental claim) and a fragment of glass from a fluorescent tube reported from a sandwich.

Contact: Information