European Union Reference Laboratory

European Union Reference Laboratory for Alternatives to Animal Testing (EURL ECVAM), Systems Toxicology Unit institute for Health and Consumer Protection,... 

Anna Bal-Price European Union Reference Laboratory for Alternatives to Animal Testing (EURL ECVAM), Systems Toxicology Unit, Institute for Health and Consumer Protection, Joint Research Centre, European Commission, Ispra (VA), Italy David Basketter DABMEB Consultancy Ltd, Bedfordshire, UK Camilla Bernasconi European Union Reference Laboratory for Alternatives to Animal Testing (EURL ECVAM), Systems Toxicology Unit, Institute for Health and Consumer Protection, Joint Research Centre, European Commission, Ispra, VA, Italy Bas J. Blaauboer Division of Toxicology, Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences,... 

Siegfried Morath European Union Reference Laboratory for Alternatives to Animal Testing (EURL ECVAM), Systems Toxicology Unit, Institute for Health and Consumer Protection, Joint Research Centre, European Commission, Ispra, VA, Italy Olavi Pelkonen Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Oulu,... 

European Union Reference Laboratory for Crustacean Diseases Cefas Weymouth Laboratory is the designated European Union Reference Laboratory (EURL) for Crustacean Diseases. http //www.crustaceancrl. eu/... 

Reference laboratories are important resources within animal disease diagnosis. These are internationally recognised facilities that have a combination of skilled personnel, validated diagnostic tests, reagents and appropriate archive material. The European Union Reference Laboratory (EURL-FISH) is funded by the EU Commission and is located in the national veterinary institute, Aarhus, Denmark. The main purpose of the EURL is to ensure high quality of all fish diagnostics performed in the member states of the EU. Furthermore this aids in the harmonisation of the protocols and methodologies applied for the various fish diseases, as described in Council Directive 2006/88/EC. The EURL is primarily concerned with notifiable viral diseases of fish (www.crl-fish.eu). 

In 2006, an interlaboratory exercise was organized by the Community Reference Laboratory for Marine Biotoxins (CRLMB) to evaluate its fitness for purpose for the Official Control of PSP toxins in the EU laboratories [41]. Eighteen European Union (EU) laboratories took part in the study. The participants had to analyze six bivalve mollusks samples with various PSP toxic profiles. The performance of the participant laboratories in the application of the 2005.06 AOAC Official... 

In a farsighted move in 1989, the European Union laboratory IRMM started a series of interlaboratory comparisons to provide objective evidence for the degree of equivalence and the quality of chemical measurements by comparing a participant s measurement results with external certified reference values (IRMM 2006). At the time most proficiency testing schemes used consensus results for the mean and standard deviation to derive z scores. With the IMEP-1 analysis of lithium in serum, the world was alerted to the problem of lack of accuracy in analytical measurements. The data of the first IMEP-1 trial are replotted in figure 5.6 notice that the apparent outlier was the only laboratory to come close to the assigned value. 

To oversee this surveillance, the European Union has developed a system based on four fundamental cornerstones and controlled by four Community Reference Laboratories (Decision 91/664/EEC) hierarchically linked to a series of 36 authorized National Laboratories (Decision 93/257/EEC). The four cornerstones are a program of reference materials (53), a set of regularly updated mandatory minimum quality criteria for analytical techniques (54-57), a series of Reference Manuals (58, 59), and a continuous series of laboratory workshops plus a future Peer Review Group (60). 

Future authenticity testing of cocoa butter and chocolate products is likely to follow defined paths. To assure the authenticity of cocoa butters databases of the composition of the relevant fats will be required, constructed from a statistically significantly number of samples of proven provenance and processing history. Analyses must be carried out using internationally validated methods and characterized reference materials by a number of respected laboratories. Scientific co-operation within the European Union is beginning to develop such approaches in ensuring the authenticity of other foods such as olive oil. 

The IUPAC/SCI/NPL programme on surface area standards examined a number of carbon blacks, activated charcoals, and silicas, and in the resulting publication [33] the results obtained in a number of laboratories were compared. As a result, two carbon blacks and two silicas lacking microporosity were accepted as standards. A major conclusion of this work, namely that outgassing conditions determine results obtained with high-area solids, was reinforced by the unsuccessful attempts made by the European Union s Community Bureau of Reference to obtain reproducible results with silica gels intended as reference standards [8e]. 

The official status of laboratories in food control is defined in Art. 7 of the Council Directive 89/397/EEC, which refers to both first opinion and second opinion (or referee) laboratories. First opinion stands for laboratories of the official food control authorities in the European Union. Second opinion means private third party laboratories which undertake analyses on a second part of... 

The diversity and complexity of the available approaches has identified the major difficulties associated with producing suitable guidelines that would allow comparisons between different laboratories and different countries in assessing metal mobility in the soil environment. This led to the development of single and sequential extraction procedures by the Standards, Materials and Testing (SM T - formerly the (European) Community Bureau of Reference (BCR) Programme of the European Union (1987)). Single extractants evaluated included 0.05 moll-1 EDTA, 0.43 moll-1 acetic acid, and 1 moll-1 ammonium acetate at pH 7. 

Interlaboratory studies carried out by consortia of European laboratories, of which the aim is improve the state-of-the-art of different types of measurements [7], These projects are useful to detect possible sources of errors related to particular techniques, to create networks of laboratories within the European Union and to prepare groups of expert laboratories for the certification of reference materials... 

Using several years experience, as a laboratory scientist pioneering speci-ation analyses and latterly as a scientist in DGXII of the European Union leading the campaign to improve the quality and credibility of speciation measurements, Dr Quevauviller has written a masterly text. No-one is better qualified to write a text critically evaluating the performance of different methods for speciation analysis. Carefully organised and authoritatively written, I am sure this book will be an essential reference for all those who perform or use speciation analysis. 

Council Decision 1993/383/ EEC of 14 June 1993 on reference laboratories for the monitoring of marine biotoxins. Official Journal of the European Union L 166, 8.7.1993, pp. 31-33 M Kat. Diarrhoeic mussel poisoning in the Netherlands related to the dinoflagelle Dinophysis acuminata. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 49 417-427, 1983. 

Notified bodies are independent testing laboratories and/or certification bodies recognized in the European Union to perform tests and issue reports and certificates on conformity. These bodies are generally referred to as notified bodies. Depending on the directive an accredited body may be referred to as a notified body, competent body, certification body, third party, or other (see Notified Bodies and Third Parties in Chapter 4). Test reports and certificates issued by accredited bodies attest to a product s or system s conformity to the relevant standards. These reports and certificates are the basis for mutual recognition of test results and build consumer confidence in a product s conformity. 

Quality control is of the utmost importance in the case of mineral analyses because of the low concentrations of the elements normally found in foods and the ubiquitous presence of significant levels of many of them in the environment. In addition to the standard techniques of working in a clean laboratory to reduce the potential for accidental contamination to a minimum, it is essential that procedures be validated and results checked against appropriate certified reference materials (CRMs). CRMs for most of the trace and other minerals of interest in foods are available from international reference centers such as the Community Bureau of Reference of the European Union, the National Institute of Standards and Technology of the United States, and the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. 

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