Can your lab withstand mycotoxins?
BIPEA is a non-profit organization that was established in and has ISO accreditation. It offers more than 200 regular interlaboratory comparison programs and attracts over 4,000 participants annually from all around the world.
in a number of analytical domains, such as fluids, soils, grains, feed, food, drink, and cosmetics.According to estimates from the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in June 2024, the number of foodborne diseases in the UK increased from one million cases annually to 2.4 million cases.
Consumer safety required careful monitoring of the quality and safety of agrifood products, but with the number of these items rising, there has never been a more pressing need than there is right now.
Natural pollutants called mycotoxins can be found in certain foods, especially baby food, cereals, nuts, dried fruits, and spices. Aspergillus, Penicillium, Fusarium, Alternaria, and Claviceps are the primary toxigenic fungal species that create these toxins, which can have a serious negative effect on an animal’s or human’s immune system or even cause cancer.
It is possible to detect mycotoxins in samples using trustworthy analysis techniques and stop tainted food from getting to consumers and retailers. As a result, laboratories must evaluate and track their own mycotoxin analysis performance, which they accomplish by conducting frequent proficiency testing programs in compliance with ISO
Putting the proficiency testing plan in place
In order to better address contaminants in agrifood, BIPEA established a periodical proficiency testing scheme (PTS) in 1996. This method allows for the quantification of mycotoxins in actual food matrices. More than fifty distinct samples of cereals, infant food, spices, and dried fruits have been examined in this manner since the PTS’s founding.
The purpose of the commission meeting is to determine the PTS design, test schedule, analyzed matrices, and spiking ranges. The meeting brings together the technical committee and BIPEA.
How BIPEA samples data
Using a specific material, BIPEA creates a batch of samples that are each spiked with a mycotoxin solution, homogenized, and then separated into a number of samples. Regardless of the production order, this guarantees a quasi-simultaneous filling of samples and, consequently, homogeneity between samples.
Depending on the kind of matrix and the activities of the analytical laboratories, a combination of certain mycotoxins is used to manufacture each batch. For instance, only aflatoxins B1, B2, G1, G2, and ochratoxin A can be added to dried fruits or spices, but DON, nivalenol, zearalenol, toxins T2 and HT2, and, in certain situations, fumonisins B1 and B2 can also be added to cereals and baby food.
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Verifying homogeneity
It is important to verify and ensure that samples from the same batch are homogeneous. To confirm sample homogeneity, ten randomly selected samples must be analyzed twice throughout the production line.
Sample shipment and resultsExpress couriers are used to deliver the packages to participants. The laboratories are then asked to analyze the samples as they typically would for interlaboratory comparisons and submit their findings via an online reply form within a four-week timeframe.
Analysis of the data using statistics and publication
Every piece of data that is gathered is statistically analyzed by BIPEA, and each laboratory’s performance is determined in compliance with ISO 13528.5.
Ultimately, an interlaboratory comparisons report including the results is distributed to all participants, enabling them to take corrective and/or curative measures.To maintain participant confidentiality, each is uniquely recognized by a unique laboratory code.
By consistently taking part in this interlaboratory comparisons program, laboratories may exhibit the dependability of their findings for the quantification of mycotoxins in agrifood products.
Over two decades in the making, BIPEA’s proficiency testing program brings together hundreds of laboratories globally.