THE INTERNATIONAL-DAIRY-FEDERATIONS PROCEDURE FOR THE VALIDATION OF MICROBIOLOGICAL ANALYTICAL METHODS FOR DAIRY FOODS

The International Dairy Federation (IDF/FIL) empirically validates sta ndard microbiological methods for the international dairy industry by using groups of qualified experts. Typically, a logical progression of interlaboratory performance studies conducted by several laboratories leads to a validated method. Control of dairy food matrices and analy tes in interlaboratory studies, however, is not rigid. Interlaboratory reproducibility is not usually considered of paramount importance bec ause of the difficulty of establishing test sample homogeneity with lo w numbers of microorganisms. However, the recent Listeria monocytogene s standard was validated by testing identical inoculated samples after preliminary interlaboratory studies. In the past, IDF/FIL preferred t o validate only conventional methods that are widely used in dairy mic robiology laboratories rather than novel vapid commercial kit methods. IDF/FIL Standards are internationally recognized.