Food Branch

Microbiological Testing

Bacteria appeared on Earth approximately 3.5 billion years ago. Since then, as a result of the evolution of the bacterial world, the differentiation in terms of metabolic reactions, and especially in the ways of eating and receiving energy occurs, which has helped to overrun all the environments. Bacteria are an essential part of our world and do many useful functions, but they can also be harmful. Pathogens are the cause of many human, animal and plant diseases. While many diseases are transmitted from man to man or from animals to humans, only few are transmitted by food. Most known kind – food poisoning is caused by foodborne infection with microorganisms or their toxins. It is the responsibility of each food manufacturer to ensure the quality and safety of the food produced. Existing food law applicable throughout the food chain is designed to keep risk factors, including microbiological hazards, as low as possible, therefore microbiological analysis is an integral part of food safety management and includes microbiological testing to monitor the current situation, trend analysis and new threats.

 

Our microbiological laboratories offer microbiological analyzes of products, including microorganisms, which determine the food safety and hygiene indicators, using appropriate standard test methods (ISO, EN), the latest equipment and tests to determine microbial contamination throughout the complete production process. We use not only classical techniques but also techniques based on PCR analysis. The laboratory ensures the quality of its research through standardization of analytical procedures in accordance with the requirements of the revised International Standard EN-ISO 7218:2007/A1:2013 “Microbiology of food and feedingstuffs. General requirements and guidance for microbiological examinations” obtaining reliable and reproducible test results. Our offer of microbiological analysis includes presence detection and determination of the amount of pathogenic microorganisms and indicator microorganisms in both food and feed.

 

We also carry out tests on the cleanliness of the production environment: production areas, employees’ hands and clothes. We take samples from the surface according to PN-ISO 18593:2005 using swabs or contact plates. Environmental monitoring also includes crash air sampling.