[A Closer Look at Labs] In or Out?

In-house testing will always be critical for real-time results at the plant level and as simpler, more cost-effective methods of testing continue to be developed, the importance of in-house laboratories will most likely continue to grow. However, as the world goes global and consumer information continually increases, third-party testing and validation through contract laboratories will remain an essential part of the food safety system. So how does a plant determine how much testing it should do in-house?

While Mansour Samadpour, owner of IEH Laboratories & Consulting Group, Lake Forest Park, Wash., realizes that food plant managers may see his comments as somewhat subjective, he cautions plants about attempting to run in-house laboratories. “In general, people need to realize that even if you are a really successful food producer, it doesn’t mean you can operate a good lab,” he said. A good lab requires not only a different set of skills, but also a different infrastructure, he said, “the type of infrastructure that is needed is far beyond the reach of many food producers.”

MEDIA MAINTENANCE. One such infrastructure need is that of maintaining media for microbiological testing, said Julie Honsa, quality manager for RTech Laboratories, Minneapolis, Minn. Even though plant laboratories are separated from production areas, the media needed for much of this testing are active pathogens, thus plants often prefer to not have such a potential hazard anywhere within the walls of the plan.

Regular and accurate equipment calibration is another critical aspect of lab maintenance, and an essential requirement of accreditation. With contract laboratories outsourcing much of this calibration to experts, such dollar outlay is one more expense a plant would need to pick up in order to perform and maintain accurate testing.

Contract laboratories also generally have a wider range of services available than can be maintained by an in-house plant. “The tough problems can be solved here that the food plant does not have the expertise for,” said ABC Research CEO George Baker. The Gainesville, Fla.-based lab also conducts research projects for processors, and has worked in this capacity for many of the major food processors.

WORK SMARTER. Plants use contract laboratories for two main reasons, said Charles Deibel, president and COO of Lincolnwood, Ill.-based Deibel Laboratories: to help release product quickly and to utilize the service of experts in an area in which the plant doesn’t have expertise itself. And in some cases a third reason for working with a contract lab can be the formation of a partnership between the two.

Deibel provides training and auditing services to in-house labs, and has shared its entire program with one partner, which has now standardized its own labs based on Deibel’s methods, Deibel said. The resulting partnership provides the plant with extended expertise in specific lab areas and provides the contract lab with a loyal, long-term customer.

To ensure objectivity in testing, more and more customers as well as federal agencies are requiring that certain tests be conducted by a third party. In such cases, even plants with in-house laboratories will need to contract out for testing, and this can, in fact, be a positive experience for the plant as well.

“Having an independent third-party laboratory doing your testing and providing a certification of analysis is tremendous peace of mind for your company and your customer,” Samadpour said.

But the development of an in-house laboratory can actually lead to extended business for a corporation, as was the case for RTech, associated with Land O’Lakes. Originally the in-house laboratory for Land O’Lakes, RTech was created 11 years ago to cover some of the overhead of having a full laboratory.

PERSONAL PREFERENCE. While contract laboratories certainly have their place in the industry, in-house testing will never completely disappear because of the need for real-time results and the increasing availability of simpler, more cost-effective methods.

Choosing between an in-house and a contract laboratory really depends on the type of testing that is needed, Honsa said. Land O’Lakes still maintains a separate in-house lab at which it does its own in-process testing. “It depends on your type of business and what your process is,” she said.
 
The author is staff editor of QA magazine.