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What are the key elements of a LIMS for food and beverage testing?

Title: What are the key elements of a LIMS for food and beverage testing?

Author for citation: Shawn E. Douglas

License for content: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International

Publication date: September 2022

Introduction

A food and beverage laboratory may analyze anything from

This broad array of analytical techniques and set of regulatory considerations means such labs continuing to turn to informatics solutions like the laboratory information management system (LIMS) will require their information management solutions to meet the specific needs of their lab.

This brief topical article will examine the typical food and beverage lab's operations and workload, and suggest a base set of LIMS functionality (i.e., system requirements) that is critical to fulfilling the information management and workflow requirements of this lab type.

Note: Any citation leading to a software vendor's site is not to be considered a recommendation for that vendor. The citation should however still stand as a representational example of what vendors are implementing in their systems.

Base LIMS requirements

Given the above, it's clear LIMS adoption and use must continue in crime labs. But a generic LIMS won't do; it's imperative the lab find a solution that meets all or most its workflow requirements. This more often than not requires a configurable solution that enables trained users to quickly make the changes they need, if those changes make sense within the overall data structure of the LIMS.

What follows is a list of system functionality important to most any food and beverage laboratory, with a majority of that functionality found in many vendor software solutions.

Test, sample and case management

• Sample, property and evidence log-in and management, with support for unique IDs
• Support for pre-logging of death and evidence data before physical materials arrive
• Body reception, location, and disposition support
• Barcode and RFID support
• End-to-end sample, body, property, and evidence tracking
• Custom and industry-specific test and method management, including for breath alcohol and sexual assault testing
• Test, instrument, subpoena, and other event scheduling
• Test requesting
• Configurable screens and data fields
• Analytical tools, including data visualization, statistical analysis, and data mining tools
• Data import and export
• Robust query tools
• Document and image management
• Workflow management
• Case management, including case assignment, reassignment, and prioritization, with support for unique and third-party IDs:
  • Story-related entry for cases
  • Geolocation capture and support
  • Mass casualty event support
  • Cluster and crime scene mapping tools
  • Mobile and offline data entry support for remote work
  • Dashboard view of all pertinent information for a case, including criminal case status
  • Dashboard or other view showing case and test assignment, status, and backlog

Quality, security and compliance

• Quality assurance / quality control mechanisms
• Standardized terminology via built-in dictionaries and medical classification codes like ICD
• National Association of Medical Examiners (NAME) and International Association of Coroners and Medical Examiners (IAC&ME) accreditation support
• Results review and approval
• User qualification, performance, and training management
• Audit trails and chain of custody support
• Configurable and granular role-based security
• Configurable system access and use (log-in requirements, account usage rules, account locking, etc.)
• Electronic signature support
• Data encryption and secure communication protocols
• Archiving and retention of case and other data and information
• Configurable data backups
• Status updates and alerts

Operations management and reporting

• Customizable rich-text reporting, with multiple supported output formats
• Custom and industry-specific forms, including body release, autopsy authorization, media release, cremation authorization, subpoena, etc.
• Support for state-specific death certificates
• Industry-compliant labeling
• Email integration
• Instrument interfacing and data management
• Instrument calibration and maintenance tracking
• Inventory and reagent management
• Third-party software and database interfacing
• Integrated (or online) system help
• Hour, mileage, and expense tracking
• Turnaround time calculation

Specialty LIMS requirements

As noted previously, the DOJ points out many disciplines and sub-disciplines that are used in and near the forensics laboratory. It is beyond the scope of this article to address the system functionality for each. However, an attempt has been made to cover the most important sub-disciplines associated with forensics and medical examiners labs in regards to LIMS functionality.

Conclusion

This brief topical article sought to answer "what are the key elements of a LIMS for food and beverage testing??" It notes that ...