You can send incoming raw material samples out to a third-party lab, but plenty of easy-to-use, rapid test kits can more quickly provide the results you need—right at your own facility.
A June 10, 2011 report on Deutsche Welle states “bean sprouts are the likely source of an E. coli outbreak in Germany that has killed 31 people and made nearly 3,000 ill since May [2011].” This information was attributed to Reinhard Burger, president of Germany’s federal infectious disease laboratory, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). (FE Tech Flash, June 13, 2011.)
“I am nothing short of outraged at the increasing number of outbreaks of foodborne illness in this country,” said Senator Tom Harkin, chairman of the Senate Agricultural Committee in February 2009. “Everything from spinach and lettuce to beef products and, now, peanut products has been implicated. Within the last year, we had the biggest recall ever under USDA jurisdiction. And just in the last month, with the recall of peanut products from the Peanut Corporation of America [PCA], we had one of the largest recalls ever under FDA jurisdiction.” (FE, March 2009.)