What are the “Standard Methods” and What Makes Them So Special?

May 11, 2018 (9:00 AM (CENTRAL TIME U.S.))

Webinar Description

Sponsored by the University of Vermont and the Applied Laboratory Methods PDG

This 60-minute FREE webinar will review the process for the development and revisions of standards by the Food and Drug Administration (Bacteriological Analytical Manual) of the USA and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and Comité Européen de Normalisation.

More than 70 International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and Comité Européen de Normalisation (CEN) standard methods for specific food organisms have been published. This webinar will review the process for the development and revisions of standards by the ISO and CEN. In the United States, unlike the EU where ISO/CEN methods serve as standard reference methods, the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Bacteriological Analytical Manual (BAM) serves as the repository of standard reference methods for the microbiological analysis of all foods other than meat and egg products. This presentation will include a brief history of the BAM, an overview of the methods that it contains, and a description of how methods get into the BAM.

Paul in’t Veld is working as a food microbiologist for the competent authority in the Netherlands. Active in the standardization of methods at ISO (worldwide) and CEN (European) level. He is the Chair of ISO WG3 on method validation standards (ISO 16140 series).

Thomas Hammack is a Supervisory Research Microbiologist at FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. Chair of FDA’s Microbiology Methods Validation Subcommittee, past Chair of FDA’s Bacteriological Analytical Manual (BAM) Council, and a current member of BAM Council. He is active in ISO and AOAC International.

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