The San Bernardino laboratory provides surveillance and diagnostic testing on milk and dairy products submitted by the Milk and Dairy Food Safety Branch of the California Department of Food and Agriculture. Dairy food pathogen testing is a critical element to ensure particular bacteria that can cause serious illness in people, such as Salmonella, E. coli O157, Listeria, Campylobacter or Brucella, are not present in dairy foods for human consumption. CAHFS quickly identifies pathogens, and helps producers and regulators mitigate issues before they turn into major human health concerns.
CAHFS offers:
- Biochemical tests that use specific bacterial culture media to enhance growth of pathogens to easily identify their presence, even at small numbers
- Testing of dairy products and environmental samples from production facilities for Listeria, Campylobacter, Salmonella and O157 E. coli
- Dairy testing performed in accordance to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) protocols
- Food Pathogen Laboratory is a member of the FDA Food Emergency Response Network (FERN) and Veterinary Laboratory Investigation and Response Network (Vet-LIRN)