Testing for microorganisms in food is an essential step in the food safety process to determine there are no organisms or pathogens present that are likely to cause harm.

ISO has a series of standards developed by international experts to do just that, the latest of which has just been published.

ISO 16140-3, Microbiology of the food chain – Method validation – Part 3: Protocol for the verification of reference methods and validated alternative methods in a single laboratory, provides the procedures and acceptance criteria for implementing test methods in a laboratory. It is designed to help food and feed testing laboratories, test kit manufacturers, competent authorities, and food and feed business operators to implement microbiological methods in their laboratories.

The standard joins other parts in the ISO 16140 series, which provide protocols for the validation of new and alternative methods. This new standard specifically focuses on the procedure for laboratories to follow that allows them to verify their use of validated methods.

Other parts in the series are:
ISO 16140-1, Microbiology of the food chain – Method validation – Part 1: Vocabulary
ISO 16140-2, Microbiology of the food chain – Method validation – Part 2: Protocol for the validation of alternative (proprietary) methods against a reference method
ISO 16140-4, Microbiology of the food chain – Method validation – Part 4: Protocol for method validation in a single laboratory
ISO 16140-5, Microbiology of the food chain – Method validation – Part 5: Protocol for factorial interlaboratory validation for non-proprietary methods
ISO 16140-6, Microbiology of the food chain – Method validation – Part 6: Protocol for the validation of alternative (proprietary) methods for microbiological confirmation and typing procedures