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Key Facts: FSIS Laboratories
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The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has four laboratories.
Three laboratories, the Eastern, Midwestern, and Western labs,
conduct regulatory testing on samples of meat, poultry, and egg
products. The Microbial Outbreaks and Special Projects Branch
(MOSPB) laboratory performs analyses related to foodborne illness
outbreaks and conducts special projects for the agency. The four
laboratories are staffed by approximately 200 employees, including
microbiologists, chemists, and veterinary pathologists.
Regulatory Laboratories
FSIS has three regulatory laboratories, the Eastern laboratory in
Athens, GA, opened in 1974, the Midwestern laboratory in St. Louis,
MO, opened in 1978, and the Western laboratory in Alameda, CA opened
in 1972.
The three regulatory field laboratories perform microbiological
and chemical testing of samples. The labs perform food chemistry,
pathology, antibiotic, and pesticide testing, although the same
types of tests are not conducted at each lab. In FY 2001, the
three regulatory laboratories conducted 737,139 analyses on 1
59,401 meat, poultry, and egg product samples.
Microbial Outbreaks & Special Projects Branch
The MOSPB laboratory, located in Athens, GA, opened in 1996. The
primary responsibility of MOSPB is to analyze products that have
been implicated in foodborne illness investigations. This often
involves genetic characterization, or genetic “fingerprinting,
” of bacterial pathogens. These analyses are used in foodborne
illness investigations by FSIS, the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC), state health departments, and other public health
agencies.
MOSPB also conducts special projects to evaluate new equipment and testing methods that may be implemented in the FSIS field laboratories.
Laboratory Initiatives
ISO Standard 17025 Accreditation
All four of FSIS’ laboratories are now accredited under ISO
Standard 17025. ISO Standard 17025 accreditation is recognized as
the highest international standard for food testing laboratories.
Laboratory Electronic Application for Results Notification
The Laboratory Electronic Application for Results Notification
(LEARN) program provides FSIS personnel, establishments, and state
officials with reports on the status of meat, poultry, and egg
product test samples. LEARN is an automated process that tracks
each sample as it is received, analyzed, and results are reported.
LEARN went online in September 2001, giving all FSIS employees
access to LEARN through an agency intranet site.
The FSIS server allows field inspectors and agency staff to check
on the status of individual samples or view circuit, district, and
management summaries of results. Establishment and state officials
will not have access to the intranet site, but they may receive
email reports on the status of individual samples.
Laboratory Information Management System
The Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) is a database
that will provide complete tracking of a sample from the time it
is received at the laboratory until the results are completed.
LIMS will maintain sample tracking that is required under ISO
Standard 17025 accreditation.
The program has been under development since 1995 and, when
completed, it will be implemented in all FSIS laboratories.
Data will be entered into LIMS by lab technicians or captured
directly from laboratory instruments.
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