Essential to the development of useful predictive models for foods is
the collection of appropriate data. Within the UK Predictive Food Micr
obiology Program, a series of documents have been produced to aid the
standardization of data collection by a number of laboratories. Docume
nts include a protocols form, notes on experimental design, notes on t
he accuracy of counts by plating, the preferred method of calculating
a plate count value, preferred MPN tables and the preferred methods of
recording data values. These documents have proven useful in aiding c
ollaboration between laboratories.