Audit of official control laboratories capabilities and accreditation … · 2014. 8. 19. · Q6:...

Audit of Official Control Laboratories capabilities and accreditation status in the UK 2013 results

Audit of Official Control Laboratories capabilities and accreditation status in the UK

2

About Public Health England

Public Health England’s mission is to protect and improve the nation’s health and to

address inequalities through working with national and local government, the NHS,

industry and the voluntary and community sector. PHE is an operationally autonomous

executive agency of the Department of Health.

Public Health England

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Wellington House

London SE1 8UG

Tel: 020 7654 8000

http://www.gov.uk/phe

Twitter: @PHE_uk

Prepared by: Shona Neal, Julia McLean and Jim McLauchlin

For queries relating to this document, please contact [email protected]

© Crown copyright 2013

You may re-use this information (excluding logos) free of charge in any format or

medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence v2.0. To view this licence,

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concerned. Any enquiries regarding this publication should be sent to

[email protected].

You can download this publication from www.gov.uk/phe

Published September 2013

PHE publications gateway number: 2013174

This document is available in other formats on request. Please email [email protected]


https://twitter.com/PHE_uk

mailto:[email protected]






3

Contents

About Public Health England 2

Executive summary 4

Introduction 5

Method 5

Results 5

Discussion and Conclusions 23

Microbiology Testing and Capacity – Q3 to Q7 23

Handling of Schedule 5 agents – Q8 to Q10 23

Official Control Testing (organism vs. matrix) – Q11 & Q14 23

Participation in Proficiency Test schemes – Q15 & Q16 24

Referral of organisms isolated – Q17 to Q19 25

Provision of National Reference Laboratory Services – Q20 to Q23 25


4

Executive summary

In order to ascertain various aspects of Official Control Laboratories (OCL), a

questionnaire was drafted using SelectSurvey and sent to OCL contacts. Responses

were downloaded both individually and as an Excel sheet and analysed on a question-

by-question basis.

In total, 17 laboratories entered results, generating a response rate of 61%. A further

four laboratories replied after a repeat contact, stating they no longer perform

microbiology testing. Key points include:

fourteen laboratories test Official Controls for local authorities/port health authorities

eight laboratories have access to a containment level 3 (CL3) facility; none of which

are in Scotland

only three laboratories are accredited to detect Vero cytotoxin-producing Escherichia

coli (VTEC), although all are accredited for the detection of E. coli O157

o this may increase after the addition of VTEC in sprouted seeds in the

Microbiological Criteria

although most laboratories are accredited for detection of campylobacter, only five

perform enumeration and none are accredited

all laboratories participated in proficiency testing schemes, although no single

scheme is used by all laboratories

o the Food and Environmental Proficiency Testing Unit (FEPTU) European

Food Microbiology Legislation Scheme (previously the Food Law Scheme)

has limited participation, and would provide comparative data for all the

OCLs in the UK

This audit has identified areas of weakness, which can inform future National Reference

Laboratory (NRL) activities to support the OCLs, such as preparedness of VTEC

detection and CL3 facilities and campylobacter enumeration. The NRL also

recommends the OCLs to participate in the European Food Microbiology Legislation

Scheme, organised by FEPTU, as this provides external quality assessment samples

for laboratories that examine food products in accordance with European legislation

regulations.


5

Introduction

Public Health England (the successor organisation to the Health Protection Agency)

was awarded the contract to provide the service of the UK’s National Reference

Laboratory for food microbiology by the UK’s competent authority, the Foods Standards

Agency (FSA), under EU regulation 882/2004. The NRL’s main function is to provide

advice, training and other support to the other Official Control Laboratories in the UK for

the following work areas: Listeria monocytogenes, coagulase positive staphylococci,

Escherichia coli (incl. VTEC), campylobacter, salmonella and antimicrobial resistance.

As part of the NRL’s remit, and to inform future activities, an audit was undertaken on

accreditation status, numbers of food Examiners employed, tests available and

membership of proficiency test (PT) schemes.

Method

A series of questions was drafted, including capabilities and capacity, details of

International Organization for Standardization (ISO) accreditation and anticipated

services from the National Reference Laboratory. To maximise the response rate and

minimise data-entry, the questions were transferred to the PHE-approved online survey

tool, SelectSurvey. After piloting the survey, the URL link was sent to all the OCL

contacts identified from the FSA website (n=28 laboratories), with an introductory letter

in April 2013. The closing date for responses was 20 May 2013. Responses were then

downloaded both individually and as an Excel sheet and analysed on a question-by-

question basis.

Results

In total, 17 laboratories entered results, generating a response rate of 61%. After

emailing non-responders once more with general questions, such as “Does your

laboratory perform microbiology testing for Official Control purposes?” a further four

laboratories responded stating they no longer perform microbiology testing.


6

Preliminary results were presented at the OCL user day (19 June 2013). The following

results are based on the 17 laboratories, and are presented in sequential order to the

questionnaire. The first two questions relate to contact details, which are not included

here and remains anonymous for this report. Any comments are found in the Discussion

and Conclusion section.


Q3: Do you currently perform microbiology tests?

Yes: 16 94

No: 1 6

Q4: Do you currently perform microbiology tests for Official Control Purposes?

Yes: 15 88

No: 2 12

Q5: Do you currently perform microbiology test for Official Control purposes on behalf of local authorities/port health authorities?

Yes: 14 82

No: 3 18

94%

6%

Q3: Do you currently perform tests?

Yes:

No:

88%

12%

Q4: Microbiology testing of Official Controls?

Yes:

No:

82%

18%

Q5: Official Control testing for LAs/PHA?

Yes:

No:


8

5

3 2

1 0

1 1 3 4 8

Nu

mb

er

of

Pu

blic

An

alys

ts

Number of Laboratories

Q7: Public Analysts & supervise microbiological Official Control testing?

Q6: How many staff are designated as food examiners?

Breakdown: Number of food

examiners Number of labs

1 2

2 4

3 5

4 2

5 2

6 2

Q7: How many staff are designated as public analysts and supervise microbiological testing for Official Control purposes?

Breakdown: Number of labs

Number of public analysts

1 5

1 3

3 2

4 1

8 0

Individual OCL

Food Examiner

Public Analyst Total

1 6 0 6

2 4 0 4

3 1 1 2

4 1 1 2

5 3 0 3

6 2 1 3

7 3 2 5

8 4 0 4

9 2 1 3

10 3 3 6

11 3 0 3

12 5 2 7

13 5 5 10

14 6 0 6

15 2 0 2

16 2 2 4

17 3 0 3

1 2

3 4

5 6

2 4 5 2 2 2

Nu

mb

er

of

Foo

d E

xam

ine

rs

Number of Laboratories

Q6: Designated Food Examiners?


9

Q8: Do you currently have access to a containment level 3 laboratory? No. % Yes: 8 47 No: 8 47 No answer given: 1 6

Q9: Are you currently registered to hold agents listed in schedule 5 of the anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 (Modification) order 2007? No. % Yes: 8 47 No: 9 53

47%

53%

Q9: Registered under Schedule 5 to hold agents?

Yes:

No:

47%

47%

6%

Q8: CL3 availability?

Yes:

No:

No answer given:


10

Q10: If Yes (to the above question), which agents? Brucella canis 1

Clostridium perfringens 9

Enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli 2

Multiple-drug resistant Salmonella paratyphi 1

Mycobacterium tuberculosis 1

Salmonella paratyphi A, B, C 2

Shigella boydii 2

Shigella flexneri 2

other* 1

1

9

2

1 1

2 2 2

1

N

u

m

b

e

r

Agents

Q10: Which agents are you registered to hold under Schedule 5?

* 2012 order removed C perfringens from list


11

Q11 & 12: (NOTE: 15/17 tested Official Controls) Which agents do you currently detect/enumerate for Official Control Purposes for the following food matrices?

Listeria detection non-accredited accredited

Ready to eat 0 15

Milk powder 0 14 Poultry 0 13 Other meat 0 13 Milk products 0 14 Eggs 0 14 Ice-cream 0 14 Sprouted seeds 0 14 Fruit and veg 0 14

Listeria enumeration non-accredited accredited

Ready to eat 0 15 Milk powder 0 14 Poultry 0 13

Other meat 0 13 Milk products 0 13 Eggs 0 13 Ice-cream 0 14 Sprouted seeds 0 14 Fruit and veg 0 14

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

15 14 13 13 14 14 14 14 14

Nu

mb

er

of

lab

s

Food matrices

Q11: Listeria detection

Listerianon-accreditated

ListeriaTest-accreditated

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

15 14 13 13 13 13 14 14 14 N

um

be

r o

f la

bs

Food matrices

Q12: Listeria enumeration

Listerianon-accreditated

ListeriaTest-accreditated


12

CPS detection non-accredited accredited

Ready to eat 2 7 Milk powder 2 6 Poultry 2 7 Other meat 2 6 Milk products 2 6

Eggs 2 6 Ice-cream 2 6 Sprouted seeds 2 6 Fruit and veg 2 6

CPS enumeration non-accredited accredited

Ready to eat 0 15 Milk powder 0 13 Poultry 0 13 Other meat 1 12 Milk products 0 12 Eggs 0 13 Ice-cream 0 12 Sprouted seeds 0 13 Fruit and veg 0 13

2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

7 6 7 6 6 6 6 6 6

Nu

mb

er

of

lab

s

Food matrices

Q11: CPS detection

CPSnon-accreditated

CPSTest-accreditated

0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0

15 13 13 12 12 13 12 13 13

Nu

mb

er

of

lab

s

Food matrices

Q12: CPS enumeration

Coagulase positive staphylococcinon-accreditated

Coagulase positive staphylococciTest-accreditated


13

E. coli detection non-accredited accredited


E. coli O157 detection non-

accredited accredited


2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

11 9 11 10 9 10 10 10 10

Nu

mb

er

of

lab

s

Food matrices

Q11: E. coli detection

E-Colinon-accreditated

E-ColiTest-accreditated

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

15 13 15 14 14 13 14 13 13

Nu

mb

er

of

lab

s

Food matrices

Q11: E. coli O157 detection

E-Coli 0157non-accreditated

E-Coli 0157Test-accreditated


14

VTEC detection non-accredited accredited

Ready to eat 3 3

Milk powder 3 2

Poultry 3 2

Other meat 3 2

Milk products 3 2

Eggs 3 2

Ice-cream 3 2

Sprouted seeds 3 2

Fruit and veg 3 2

3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

3

2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

Nu

mb

er

of

lab

s

Food matrices

Q11: VTEC detection

VTECnon-accreditated

VTECTest-accreditated


15

Campylobacter detection non-accredited accredited


Campylobacter enumeration

non-accredited accredited


0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

15 13 15 13 13 13 13 13 13

Nu

mb

er

of

lab

s

Food matrices

Q11: Campylobacter detection

Campylobacternon-accreditated

CampylobacterTest-accreditated

4 4 5 5

4 4 4 4 4

0 0

0 0

0 0 0 0 0

Nu

mb

er

of

lab

s

Food matrices

Q12: Campylobacter enumeration

Campylobacternon-accreditated

CampylobacterTest-accreditated


16

Salmonella detection non-accredited accredited

Ready to eat 0 15

Milk powder 0 14

Poultry 0 15

Other meat 0 14

Milk products 0 14

Eggs 0 14

Ice-cream 0 14

Sprouted seeds 0 14

Fruit and veg 0 14

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

15 14

15 14 14 14 14 14 14

Nu

mb

er

of

lab

s

Food matrices

Q11: Salmonella detection

Salmonellanon-accreditated

SalmonellaTest-accreditated


17

Q13: Do you have any further comments on availability of tests?

*Don't currently do official control of foods

*The laboratory enumerates Escherichia coli

*The testing is carried out by our sister company Eurofins Food Testing (UK) UKAS 0342 on the same site at Acton. E. coli 0157 is carried out by our sister company Eurofins Food Testing (UK) UKAS 0342 at the Wolverhampton site.

*We do not undertake campylobacter enumeration

*We routinely enumerate Enterobacteriaceae, E. coli, C. perfringens and B. cereus and are accredited for all of these.

Q14: Do you perform any antimicrobial sensitivities? If Yes, on which organisms

No 12 No answer given 4 *Yes 1

(*Susceptibility testing performed on Salmonellae and Campylobacter spp.)


18

Q15: Do you use any EQA schemes from PHE FEPTU? Standard 9

Drinking Water 14

Pathogenic Vibrio 5 Staphylococcus Enterotoxin Detection 0

Non-Pathogen 6

Extended 7

Food Law 8

Bottled and Mineral Water 8

Q16: Do you participate in EQAs from other providers? If so, please list providers and schemes

*PHE FEPTU - Legionella scheme, Recreational or Surface Water scheme, Endoscopy Water scheme, Dialysis Water scheme LGC - Phosphatase and Water Activity scheme PHE FEPTU and CEFAS - Shellfish (E. coli, salmonella and faecal coliforms) Food Standards Agency - Campylobacter enumeration proficiency test, EURL - Campylobacter enumeration proficiency test *Phosphatase CEFAS shellfish whole animal ring trial CEFAS faecal coliforms in shellfish FSA Proficiency scheme for enumeration of Campylobacter (Uni of Bristol)

*Cefas Shellfish

*Dairy QCL *LGC-QUALITY IN MICROBIOLOGY (QMS)PHE-SHELLFISH EQAPHE-LEGIONELLA DON WHITLEY QUAILTY COUNTS

*LGC QMS Scheme

*Endotoxin - Charles River *PHE Legionella and Shellfish PT schemes. Don Whitley Quality counts scheme

*LGC. Also various customer and Eurofins EQA *Yes PHE/CEFAS Shellfish Scheme CEFAS Whole Animal Scheme. LGC Quality in Food Chemistry - Water Activity LGC Quality in Dairy Chemistry - Phosphatase *LGC

*CEFAS shellfish EQA scheme. HPE shellfish scheme

9

14

5 0 6 7 8 8

Stand

ard

Drin

king W

ater

Path

ogen

icV

ibrio

Staph

ylocco

ccu

s Entero

toxin

De

tection

No

n-P

atho

gen

Extend

ed

Foo

d Law

Bo

ttled

and

Min

eral W

ater

N

u

m

b

e

r

EQA Schemes

Q15: Do you use any EQA schemes from PHE FEPTU?


19

Q17: Do you refer organisms for further confirmation of identification and/or characterisation to PHE-Colindale?

Yes: 14 82

No: 3 18

Q18: Which organisms do you refer for reference testing? Listeria spp. 11

Salmonella spp. 10

Campylobacter spp. 6

Coag pos Staphylococci, inc for enterotoxin detection

8

E.coli, inc. O157 and VTEC 7

Clostridia spp 6

Bacillus spp. 6

Legionella spp. 4

Vibrio spp. 2

Yersinia spp. 2

82%

18%

Q17: Do you refer organisms for further confirmation of identification and/or characterisation to PHE-Colindale?

Yes:

No:

11 10

6

8 7

6 6

4 2 2

N

u

m

b

e

r

Organisms

Q18: Which organisms do you refer?


20

Q19: Do you refer organisms elsewhere (eg VLA, Scottish Salmonella/VTEC Reference Laboratory, or other PHE laboratory) If so, please state laboratories and organisms.

No 9 No answer given 3 Yes (answers given below) 5

*Salmonella - Stobhill Hospital, Glasgow E coli O157 - Edinburgh Royal Infirmary

*Yes, Salmonella/Campylobacter-Scottish Salmonella Ref Laboratory Stobhill, Glasgow E.coli /VTEC Scottish Reference Laboratory Edinburgh Royal. Legionella- Scottish Reference Laboratory Stobhill, Glasgow.

*Scottish Salmonella/VTEC Reference Laboratory *Scottish Salmonella Ref Lab – Salmonella Scottish VTEC Ref Lab - E. coli O157 Scottish

Legionella Ref Lab - Legionella *Listeria to Campden BRI. Moulds to CABI

Q20: What services do you think should be provided by the National Reference Lab?

Yes No

SOPs 12 3

Risk Assessments 4 6

Audit Checklists 5 5

Training 16 Advice 15 Information on changes in

legislation 15

Application of the microbiology criteria regulation

13 1

Information on preparations of witness statements

10 2

Shelf life testing 4 6

Ring trials 8 2

12

4 5

16 15 15 13

10

4

8

3

6 5

1

2

6

2

Q20: What services should be provided by the National Reference Lab?

Yes No


21

Q21: If you have answered Yes to any of the above questions, please list areas below:

*The NRL should support an outward facing website so that our SOPs are available to the rest of the world. The NRL should disseminate information on changes of legislation to the laboratories and also support the FWE sites if they apply for multi-site accreditation. The NRL could also support the FWE laboratories in collating survey data so that the administrative/laboratory staff are freed up to concentrate on their other duties.

*SOP NRL website should make these available on the web tTraining in the form of update symposia Advice on methodology, new technology and ISO committee activity. Clear mechanism to notify to legislative changes and updates Not info on witness statements but development of a register for expert witnesses relating to foodborne pathogens Ring trials to support development of SOP's based on ISOs.

*Other NRL's have offered these services for years eg LGC, FERA, CEFAS and to a lesser extent the dairy NRL in Northern Ireland.

*Laboratory based methods training.

*Should hold current validated SOPs and make available to OCLs. - Provide training to extend labs abilities, assist with new techniques or improve/best practice. - Be available to offer advice when problems are encountered, etc. - Updates on any legislation changes particularly where this may/would impact testing or interpretation.

*Technical; legislative; quality.

*Provide SOPs and training in response to legislative changes and ISO updates and maintain current PT schemes.

*Training and advice is always useful and keeping up to date with legislation changes is very important.

*All areas in which queries may arise and a common approach would be beneficial


22

Q22 Would you be interested and want further information of the following?

% of respondents

NRL user day, held at PHE Colindale 14 82 Workshop for testing bean sprouts and real-time PCR 16 94 Provision of control material (DNA) for VTEC 14 82

Q23: Have you any other comments or suggestions for the NRL's service?

*Once we have had the NRL user day then suggestions for the NRL service would be easier to comment on.

*The list of accredited tests needs a comments box. An example of the additional information that might be given in this section would be salmonella method accredited but do not use Annex D for samples with high background flora, eg raw meat.

*Advice/workshops on validation of new technology, not specifically beansprouts

*Supply a current list of contacts for Reference laboratories for confirmation and serotyping of food poisoning organisms eg Campylobacter

Q22: Would you be interested and want further information of the following?

NRL User Day, held at PHEColindale

Workshop for testing beansprouts and real-time PCR

Provision of controlmaterial (DNA) for VTEC

82% 82%

94%

% of respondents


Discussion and Conclusions

Microbiology Testing and Capacity – Q3 to Q7

Of the 17 laboratories that completed the questionnaire, 14 test Official Controls for

local authorities/port health authorities. In recent years, some laboratories have focused

on chemical testing and food testing other than microbiology, resulting in no local

microbiology facilities in many local authority areas. It would be useful to find out where

these local authorities send their samples for testing – and whether any delays are

encountered due to transportation and communication – in order to evaluate any

shortfalls of food microbiology testing in the UK.

All laboratories have more than one food examiner and/or public analyst to perform and

oversee Official Control testing. Details of qualifications were not obtained; this could be

done at a later stage to evaluate whether the updated Food Safety (Sampling &

Qualifications) Regulations 2013 (2013 No. 264) have been adhered to.

Handling of Schedule 5 agents – Q8 to Q10

Only 8/17 OCLs are currently registered to hold agents listed in Schedule 5 of the anti-

terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 (Modification) order 2007. Nine are registered to

handle Clostridium perfingens, which was removed from the list in 2012. Therefore,

when analysed in more detail, only three OCLs are registered to handle agents listed in

Q10. Most of these organisms need to be handled in a containment level 3 (CL3)

environment, to reduce the risk of infection to the handler and contain the organism in

case of accidental release. Eight OCLs have access to a CL3 facility, although none of

the OCLs in Scotland do have CL3 access. Access to a CL3 facility will support the

introduction of the new EU regulation amending microbiological criteria to include

sprouted seed testing for VTEC presence. In addition, advice will be required to aid

those applying to register to hold enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli under Schedule

5.

Official Control Testing (organism vs. matrix) – Q11 & Q14

A comparison was undertaken with the data collected here and the schedule of

accreditation held on the UKAS website for each laboratory; in general, it was not

possible to indentify which particular food products were tested for specific organisms

on the UKAS website. Fourteen and 13 of the 15 laboratories that test Official Controls

are accredited to detect salmonella and detect and enumerate listeria on the foods

listed, respectively (see Results for details). For coagulase positive staphylococci

testing, between 12 and 15 OCLs enumerate on a wide range of food (median 13 OCLs


24

accredited), compared to detection of organism (median six accredited and two non-

accredited). Thirteen OCLs are accredited to detect campylobacter in food, but only four

OCLs perform enumeration. In addition, enumeration of campylobacter is performed as

a non-accredited test.

Nine and 13 OCLs detect E. coli and/or E. coli O157 respectively, but less than half can

detect VTEC (eg six OCLs detect from ready-to-eat food). This may increase as the

demand to test sprouted seeds rise, but more support is required to OCLs, including

documentation and training. Furthermore, the question arises when an O157 organism

is isolated from any food matrix, what further action is performed, in terms of submission

to a reference laboratory and testing for toxigenicity (eg vtx1/2 gene presence). It is

therefore recommended that as soon as an O157 is detected, no further work is

undertaken (unless the OCL has provision of a CL3 facility), and that the isolate is sent

to the reference laboratory for further characterisation.

Only one OCL performs antimicrobial sensitivity testing on salmonella and

campylobacter; this is usually performed at the reference laboratory upon request on

isolates from food. Furthermore, the only ISO methods available for antimicrobial

sensitivity testing are aimed for clinical laboratory testing and do not include

interpretation data, of which there are various (eg CLSI, EUCAST). However, there are

long-term plans at an EU level to harmonise antimicrobial testing for both clinical and

food & feed isolates.

Participation in Proficiency Test schemes – Q15 & Q16

There is variation in the OCL’s participation in proficiency test schemes. This ranges

from fourteen OCLs using the Food and Environmental Proficiency Testing Unit’s

(FEPTU) Drinking Water scheme to no labs participating in FEPTU’s Staphylococcus

Enterotoxin Detection scheme. Many other PT schemes were listed by the OCLs, but

these were not relevant to the NRLs activities.Therefore, there was no single scheme

used by all laboratories; hence, it is not currently possible to compare PT performance

for all OCLs in the UK.

FEPTU’s European Food Microbiology Legislation Scheme (previously the Food Law

Scheme) has limited participation (eight OCLs), which provides external quality

assessment samples for laboratories that examine food products in accordance with

European legislation specified in Regulation (EC) 2073/2005 Microbiological Criteria for

Foodstuffs associated with Regulation (EC) 852/2004 and subsequent amendments. In

addition, FEPTU has recently launched a new Public Health Scheme, which simulates

an outbreak setting, comprising of various samples and/or environmental swabs to

ascertain the causative agent. Therefore, the NRL recommends the OCLs to participate

in the European Food Microbiology Legislation Scheme and/or the Public Health

Scheme, as these both do not state which organism should be investigated, and is


25

based on the OCL’s routine approaches. In addition, this could provide comparative

performance for all the OCLs.

Referral of organisms isolated – Q17 to Q19

Ten and 11 of the laboratories that test Official Controls refer salmonella and listeria

respectively, onto the relevant reference laboratory for further confirmation of

identification and/or characterisation. However, only eight, seven and six of the OCLs

refer coagulase positive staphylococci, E. coli (including O157 and VTEC strains) and

campylobacter respectively, to a reference laboratory, which can be essential when

investigating food poisoning and/or outbreak events, so as to epidemiologically link a

clinical isolate with a food, water or environmental isolate. Furthermore, there is one

laboratory that only refers salmonella isolates to a reference laboratory, and sends

listeria isolates to Campden BRI (an independent organisation for the food and drinks

industry). In addition to the organisms related to the NRL activities, the OCLs listed

other pathogens of interest, such as Clostridia, Bacillus and Legionella spp.. A list of

reference services and contacts, together with charging policies, will be suggested as a

future NRL activity in the 2012-2013 report.

Provision of National Reference Laboratory Services – Q20 to Q23

Training, advice and information on changes in legislation were the most sought after

services that the OCLs would like from the NRL. There will be a training workshop on

the real-time PCR detection of VTEC in food in October 2013, and the recent OCL User

Day updated participants on changes in legislation, in particular the EU Regulation for

detecting VTEC in sprouted seeds and the UK Food Safety (Sampling & Qualifications)

regulation. Application of the microbiological criteria, provision of SOPs and witness

preparation information were indicated next, and in particular a few comments asking

for the SOPs to be available on a website. The NRL are working towards this goal and

hope to have these available within the next 12 months.

Between two and six OCLs also wanted other NRL services, such as risk assessments

and shelf-life testing; therefore, these services can be made available on an ad hoc

basis from individual OCLs. Conversely, over fourteen OCLs were interested in the

NRL’s future activities (the OCL User Day, the RT-PCR VTEC workshop and provision

of control material for VTEC). Further suggestions from the OCLs include providing a list

of contacts for reference laboratories for confirmation and serotyping of food poisoning

organisms, more general advice and workshops on new technology, and a development

of an expert witness register relating to foodborne pathogens.


26

This audit has given qualitative data concerning the capabilities and capacity of the

OCLs and has identified many areas of weakness, which can inform future NRL

activities to support the OCLs.

Audit of official control laboratories capabilities and accreditation … · 2014. 8. 19. · Q6:...

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