The UK’s Health Protection Agency now provides samples designed to demonstrate staff competency with routine examinations for Salmonella and Listeria in foods. This product differs from our widely-used proficiency testing schemes for food and water microbiology that provide insight into the efficacy of routine testing but must be treated in the same way as routine samples:

CompetencyCheck samples may be tested using any method

CompetencyCheck Features:

• Mixtures of wild-type micro-organisms preserved in LENTICULE disc format
• 12 different samples available per year for each parameter
• Order as many samples as you need – for every member of staff
• On-line report assessing your results available within 48 hours of submission
• Z-scores allocated to help to assess your performance

CompetencyCheck Benefits:

• Every member of staff can demonstrate competence with routine methods as often as necessary
• Demonstrate effectiveness of your laboratory training programmes
• Help to validate and demonstrate competence with new methods

CompetencyCheck Distributors:

• CompetencyCheck products are provided through our distributors in the following countries: Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden. ( CompetencyCheck Distributors )

• Laboratories in other countries including the United Kingdom should contact the HPA directly on foodeqa@hpa.org.uk  

 

CompetencyCheck Order form (PDF, 43 KB)

CompetencyCheck Instruction Sheet for Salmonella examination (PDF, 182 KB)

CompetencyCheck Instruction Sheet for Listeria examination (PDF, 251 KB)

CompetencyCheck Instruction Sheet for Listeria enumeration (PDF, 255 KB)

Example CompetencyCheck Salmonella Report (PDF, 346 KB)

Example CompetencyCheck Listeria detection Report (PDF, 361 KB)

Example CompetencyCheck List Enumeration Report (PDF, 413 KB)

 

For further information about HPA CompetencyCheck samples contact: foodeqa@hpa.org.uk Telephone +44 20 8327 7119