News
19-July 2010 –
LGC Standards signs up lab number
2,000 to its food microbiology proficiency testing
scheme
The Quality in Microbiology Scheme registers its
2,000th laboratory
LGC Standards, the
major international provider of proficiency testing services, has
welcomed the 2,000th laboratory onto its Quality
in Microbiology Scheme (QMS), making it one of the largest food
microbiology proficiency testing schemes in the world.
QMS aims to promote quality and comparability in the
microbiological analysis of food products. The scheme enables
laboratories undertaking microbiological analysis of food and dairy
products to monitor their performance and demonstrate the quality
of their results to third parties such as customers, regulators and
accreditation bodies. It also facilitates the monitoring of trends
over time, enabling corrective action to be taken in a timely
manner.
Through QMS, laboratories have access to a comprehensive range
of microorganisms relevant to the food and dairy industries, for
use in routine testing and pathogen detection.
The scheme now serves laboratories in 105 countries, including
locations such as San Marino, Madagascar and Papua New Guinea. QMS
is the scheme of choice for many globally recognised brands and
respected names in laboratory analysis around the world. The
milestone of 2,000 registered laboratories was achieved after
Nestlé joined the proficiency testing scheme, introducing several
hundred of its own laboratories, manufacturing sites, supplier
laboratories and third party analytical service providers to
QMS.
QMS is just one of 29 proficiency schemes available from LGC
Standards’ dedicated facility in Bury near Manchester, from where
over 100,000 samples are distributed each year. LGC Standards also
supports the analytical community with a comprehensive range of
reference materials, making it a key partner to thousands of
laboratories’ quality assurance programmes.
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Notes to
editors