Food Safety Laboratory Division

The Laboratory Division provides testing and analysis for the inspection divisions of the Bureau of Food Safety and Laboratory Services and the Bureau of Plant Industry for agronomic products and pesticide regulations and applications.

The support consists of routine testing for adherence to standards of identity and tag guarantees, as well as problem solving in the areas of consumer concerns, quality defects, animal exposure to toxic substances and methods development for proficiency in the field of agricultural analytical science.

The Division is Comprised of Two Sections:

1. The Food Safety Section provides direct analytical support of the programs administered by the inspection divisions in the Bureau of Food Safety and Laboratory Services, and on special occasions, does the same for sister units involved in food distribution. To do this, The Food Safety Section provides routine testing of food and dairy products, investigative testing and addresses consumer concerns. The section provides similar services on an as needed basis to the Bureau of Food Distribution and the Pennsylvania Milk Marketing Board.
2. The Agronomics Regulation Section provides direct analytical support of programs administered by the inspection divisions in the Bureau of Food Safety and Laboratory Services, as well as the Bureau of Plant Industry in the areas of pesticide analysis on agricultural commodities, pesticide misuse, investigations and assurance of pesticide formulation potencies, the Chemsweep initiative, and the routine analysis of agronomic products such as feeds, fertilizers and liming materials for adherence to tag guarantees.

State Laboratory Evaluation Program: The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture approves commercial laboratories and milk facilities to perform tests required by current regulations. Regulatory compliance is mandatory for raw milk, pasteurized milk , other dairy products, and frozen desserts.)

Entities licensed by the department that process and package pasteurized milk, dairy products, frozen dessert, raw milk permits and producer testing, use commercial laboratories to ensure regulatory compliance.

List of Laboratory Codes and Procedures:

Code	Procedures
2	Standard Plate Count
3	Plate Loop Count
5	Petrifilm Aerobic Count
7	Foss Bacto Scan FC
C2	Charm II Competitive Assay (Tablet Reagents)
C3	Charm II Sequential Assay (Tablet Reagents)
C9	Charm II Cloxacillin
C10	Charm II Sulfa Assay
C12	Charm II Tetracycline Assay
C13	Charm SL Test Beta-lactam
C14	Charm SL - 6 Test Beta Lactam
C15	Charm SL - 3 Test Beta Lactam
C16	Charm Flunixin-Beta Lactam
D1	DelvoTest P/SP
D3	DelvoTest P 5 Pack
I1	Idexx SNAP-Reader
I2	Idexx Parallux Beta Lactam
12	Direct Somatic Cell Count
N1	Neogen Beta Star
16	Electronic Somatic Cell Count
20	Petrifilm Coliform Count
21	Coliform Count
22	Pasteurized Milk Containers
24	Dairy Waters
26	Disintegration Method Paper or Molded Pulp Materials
28	Phosphatase Test - ALP - Fluorophos
29	Phosphatase Test - Charm

List of Commercial Laboratories

These laboratories participate in Pennsylvania's Laboratory Proficiency Testing Program conducted on a yearly basis and are evaluated on-site every two years. The "Commercial Laboratories" and "Milk Industry Laboratories" below are "Pennsylvania Approved Dairy Laboratories," approved by the Secretary of Agriculture in accordance with the Milk Sanitation Law (act of July 2, 1935, as amended) (31 P.S. Section 645 et seq.)    

PA Approved Laboratories and Facilities

• Certified Industry Supervisor Laboratories
• Commercial Laboratories
• Milk Industry Laboratories
• Pathogen Acceptable Dairy Testing Laboratories
• Regulatory Laboratory
• Screening Only Facilities

This Item Also Applicable To