Welcome to Part 3 of our three-part series on the use of rapid microbiological methods (RMM) in food safety testing, where we continue to present what we learned from our survey of more than 250 food processors from around the world, conducted in late 2023. If you missed Parts 1 and 2, they can be read here¹ and here.²

As we mentioned in Part 1, there has been substantial growth in the development and use of rapid methods since their introduction to the market over the past 25 years or so. When these methods were first introduced, they were originally intended for use by food processors in their in-plant laboratories. Over the past decade, with the increase in outsourcing due to concerns for cross-contamination from pathogen samples, fewer and fewer food companies have an in-house microbiology lab. (As mentioned in Part 1, 78 percent of the companies in our survey reported that they no longer have an in-house microbiology lab.)¹