Report on multiresidue methods (interlaboratory studies).

In order to avoid undesirable side effects such as high contents of mycotoxins in food and feed, measurements at critical steps of the food and feed production chain are performed. These measurements need to be accurate and precise to satisfy these aims. The accuracy and precision requirements to measurements form the basis of the Bureau Communautaire de Référence (BCR)-and Measurements and Testing (M&T)-Projects. Such projects aim to improve and/or develop analytical methodology, sampling plans, to harmonise agreement of results between European Union Member States and to prepare suitable certified reference materials (CRMs). The selection of the matrix CRMs and their corresponding level of mycotoxin contamination is made on the basis of requirements of the applied analytical procedures, stability requirements, regulations, norms, and inter-or intra-trade agreements which are in relation to quality specifications of imported and/or exported goods. The availability of appropriate matrix CRMs is not only a prerequisite for the implementation of directives and norms. It allows the validation of new methods and provides a possible solution to trade disputes, means for the statistical control of analytical results, tools for laboratory accreditation, and it is the basis for harmonisation and traceability of proficiency schemes.

Food Analysis↗

PubMed1995

Design of sampling plans for mycotoxins in foods and feeds.

The control of the occurrence of mycotoxins in foods and feeds requires effective surveillance and quality control procedures which facilitate the identification and control of the mycotoxin problem respectively. Surveillance and quality control procedures involve a sequence of sampling, sample preparation, and analysis steps; and the integrity of the data produced by these procedures will be determined by the effectiveness of these steps. It is imperative that the sampling step is performed as accurately as possible so that the sample collected is representative of the batch of food or feed under investigation. Needless to say, the collection of a biased sample will completely invalidate the resultant analytical data. Most attempts to develop effective sampling protocols have focused upon the aflatoxins, since the majority of current regulations are concerned specifically with this group of mycotoxins. However, the design of effective sampling protocols has been severely hindered by the highly skewed distribution of the aflatoxins in foods and feeds. Studies already performed indicate that representative samples of commodities, composed of large particles (e.g., corn and oilseed kernels) should be 10 kg in weight, at least, and composed of approximately one hundred incremental samples. Similar studies have indicated that samples of oilseed cakes and meal, however, should be composed of fifty incremental samples which afford a composite sample of approximately 5 kg in weight.

Food Analysis↗