Report on the 2010 Proficiency Test of the European Union Reference Laboratory for Mycotoxins, for the Network of National Reference Laboratories - Determination of Ochratoxin A in Cereals, Green Coffee, Paprika and Test Solution

The Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (IRMM) of the Joint Research Centre (JRC), a Directorate-General of the European Commission, operates the European Union Reference Laboratory (EU-RL) for Mycotoxins. One of its core tasks is to organise interlaboratory comparisons (ILCs) among appointed National Reference Laboratories (NRLs). This report presents the results of a ILC of the EU-RL for Mycotoxins which focused on the determination of ochratoxin A in food and feed samples. The test materials were naturally contaminated cereals, green coffee and paprika samples and an ampouled ochratoxin A solution. The materials were labelled at IRMM and dispatched to the participants in May 2010. Each participant received two ampoules of solution and seven sachets containing approximately 30 g of test material each. Thirty seven participants from 32 countries registered for the exercise. Thirty-six sets of results were reported for the solution, 37 for the cereals, 35 for the green coffee and 35 for the paprika. The assigned values were 13.2 µg/mL for the test solution, 191 µg/kg for the cereals, 8.0 µg/kg for the green coffee and 13.0 µg/kg for the paprika. The uncertainties of the respective assigned values were 0.9 µg/mL, 9 µg/kg, 0.6 µg/kg and 0.9 µg/kg. Participants were invited to report the uncertainty of their measurements. This was done by the majority of laboratories. Laboratory results were rated with z-scores and zeta-scores in accordance with ISO 13528 and of the International Harmonized Protocol for the Proficiency Testing of Analytical Chemistry Laboratories. In total about 90% of the attributed z scores were below an absolute value of two, which indicated that most of the participants performed satisfactory or better than minimal performance criteria required.

KUNSAGI Zoltan;  AMBROSIO Massimo;  BREIDBACH Andreas;  STROKA Joerg; 

2010-12-06

Publications Office of the European Union

JRC61709

978-92-79-18677-6,   

1018-5593,   

EUR 24621 EN,    OP LA-NA-24621-EN-C,   

https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC61709,   

10.2787/34023,   

https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/bitstream/JRC61709/reqno_jrc61709_eur_24621_-_determination_of_ochratoxin_a_in_cereals%2cgreen_coffee%2c_paprika_and_test_solution.pdf%5b1%5d.pdf