ISO 20838:2006 provides the overall framework for qualitative methods for the detection of food-borne pathogens using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

It covers the general requirements for the specific amplification of target nucleic acid sequences and the detection and confirmation of the identity of the amplified nucleic acid sequence.

Guidelines, minimum requirements and performance characteristics described in ISO 20838:2006 are intended to ensure that comparable and reproducible results are obtained in different laboratories.

ISO 20838:2006 has been established for food-borne pathogens in or isolated from food and feed matrices, but can also be applied to other matrices, for example environmental samples, or to the detection of other microorganisms under investigation.