Problems of sampling and analytical methods

The need for acceptable, reliable, and practical methods of analysis, chemical, physical, and biological, by the Food Standards Program of the Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization is leading to cooperation by those organizations with the resources and experience to supply them. Methods should be shown to be workable and practicable and then validated in a properly designed international collaborative study for the efficient utilization of the time and effort of participating organizations and laboratories. The methods to be subjected to interlaboratory collaborative study should be clearly written so that the method itself is being tested without unauthorized variations. Satisfactory reference standard materials are often an essential part of the method. Uniform, international methods which have been developed through interlaboratory collaborative studies are applicable to the areas of microbiology and toxicology, as well as chemistry.