ATP Testing Should Be Part of Your Sanitation Verification Regardless of Audit Requirements

From my experience in the fruit and vegetable industry most packers and processors will implement an ATP verification program only if their 3rd-party food safety audit requires it.

And a number of NPE clients decide to not use ATP as a sanitation verification tool even if their audit requires it.

Audits aside ATP testing is a very good tool to verify that your sanitation program is adequate or learn that it is not adequate.

ATP testing has the advantage of being a rapid test and it is recommended and feasible to have passing ATP results as part of a pre-op inspection.

However, ATP does not take the place of a comprehensive microbiological monitoring program that should also include equipment and facility/environmental microbiological sampling and testing.

If you have any questions about using ATP as a sanitation verification program or need assistance implementing an ATP program contact Philip Neary at NPE Produce Consulting, [email protected].