Revision of the Methods of Sampling and Analysis for Dioxins and PCBs
Performance Criteria for Sampling of Foodstuffs for the Food Business Operator’s Own Control are Now Binding
Eurofins attracts a continuing interest with regard to sampling and analysis of dioxins and PCB. We are glad to meet your wishes and once again summarise the changes of legal requirements that are in force since the end of April 2017:
Maximum levels for dioxins apply for various food and animal feed on European level since 2001/2002 and since 2006 also for selected PCB congeners. Requirements concerning the sampling procedures and analytical methods are also set within the European Union. These were exclusively for the official control of food and feed.
With the recent revision, the performance criteria for analytical methods are now also binding for the laboratories performing the analysis of samples taken by food and feed business operators. A significant innovation in the "technical changes" is the conversion of the calculation of the measurement uncertainty from the concept of the decision limit (decision limit; CCalpha) towards the concept of the expanded measurement uncertainty.
Eurofins already adopted the EU performance criteria for the analysis of dioxins and PCBs as standard for the application of Eurofins’ analytical methods for dioxins and PCBs in food and animal feed years ago. For this reason, the obligatory implementation of the EU performance criteria did not lead to any changes in the cooperation with food and feed business operators with regard to time and costs or with regard to the quality of the analytical results.
The analytical test reports been adapted according to the new specifications:
- Amendment of TEQ results for PCDD/F and PCBs by an additional medium bound value, thus reporting three TEQ-values: Calculation of WHO(2005)-TEQ following the concept of lower-bound, upper-bound and medium-bound value
- Measurement uncertainties will be considered for the judgment of results as it is already done from official side – this means the interpretation of the border limits becomes less strict.
- Recovery rates are added to the reports, whenever an exceedance of the relevant maximum level is detected.
Another change pertains the performance criteria for the sampling of foodstuffs in the context of the food business operators own control. Here the same or an equivalent sampling procedure is to be applied, which is demonstrably as representative as the sampling procedure for official control.
More details can be found in the original regulation documents:
- Foodstuff: Regulation (EU) 2017/644
- Feeding stuff: Regulation (EU) 2017/771
For further questions please do not hesitate to contact your account manager or directly our experts for sampling and analysis of dioxins and PCBs.
