Food microbiology laboratories continue to submit false negative results and false positive results on a routine basis. A retrospective study of nearly 40,000 proficiency test results over the past 14 years, presented today at the 113th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology, examined the ability of food laboratories to detect or rule out the presence of Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes, and Campylobacter.
The study found that, on average, food laboratories report false negatives of 9.1% for Campylobacter, a bacterial foodborne illness that may cause bloody diarrhea, cramping and fever, and 4.9% for Salmonella, a bacteria that may cause diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps sometimes leading to hospitalization or death. The false positive rate, on average, is 3.9% for Salmonella, and 2.5% for both E. coli and L. monocytogenes.
FoodWorld 