Skip to main content
ARS Home » Southeast Area » Fort Pierce, Florida » U.S. Horticultural Research Laboratory » Subtropical Plant Pathology Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #162926
Title: STRATEGIES OF SAMPLING FOR DETECTION

Author
item HUGHES, G. - UNIV. OF EDINBURGH
item MADDEN, L. V. - OARDC, OHIO STATE UNIV
item Gottwald, Timothy

Submitted to: Phytopathology
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/9/2003
Publication Date: 6/1/2004
Citation: Hughes, G., Madden, L., Gottwald, T.R. 2004. Strategies of sampling for detection. Phytopathology. 94:S137.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Strategies of sampling for detection employ the methodology of acceptance sampling. Quarantine inspection of fruits, vegetables and other plant products implies a decision-making process that may result in acceptance or rejection of the whole of a shipment on the basis of a sample. Such sampling schemes can be defined by the sample size and the acceptance number. The latter is the maximum number of defectives allowed in a sample of the appropriate size, for the shipment still to be judged acceptable. In the extreme, the acceptance number may be zero. The formulation of an acceptance sampling scheme for use in quarantine inspection reflects the rates at which we are prepared to wrongly reject shipments that are truly acceptable and to wrongly accept shipments that are truly defective. These rates are not necessarily the same. The principles of acceptance sampling are also applicable in other situations where sampling is used to support a decision-making process relating to plant health, including certification schemes and monitoring in the context of eradication programs.