About the analytes

The pesticide control is a rutine analysis very important for the assurance of the security of the food and compliace of it with the legislation. Laboratories must be able to detect and quantify correctly between hundreds of possible pesticides if an analyte is in the sample and in which concentration, always avoiding reporting false posivites.

The Maximum Residue Limits (MRL) for the pesticides is the maximum amount of pesticide that should contain a matrix in order to not be a health problem for the consumers, to facilitate its comercialization and to control the use of phytosanitary products. The decision to set the MRL takes into account a wide number of variables, to cite some: toxicologic data, metabolism and the persistency in various environments.

The MRL can be consulted in the annexes from the reglament 396/2005 here and an updated list of pesticides and their MRL for each matrix can be found here.

You can see the possible pesticides in the sample by looking the protocol that can be found in this page.

Summary of the proficiency test

All the information about this PT can be found in the protocol, which can be donwloaded from a link located below, in this page.

This proficiency test will consist in a single round, two samples will be distributed, the first with the PT item with approximately 100g of spiked matrix, another sample, included for free by TestQual with a blank item of flour .The target standard desviation for all the analytes is 25%.

For this PT the possible target analytes can be found in the protocol.

TestQual keeps confidential the analytes chosen for this PT and the concentration, however the levels of concentration that can be expected are residues.

PT Scheduled milestones

*These dates are orientative and always will have to be checked in the protocol of the PT and the news in our webpage.

Why choose TestQual? Is this PT accredited?

·This PT is accredited by the UNE-EN ISO/IEC 17043:2010. Check our accreditation scope here.

·A  blank item is included for free in this PT.

In a proficiency test in which the analytes must be detected and quantify from a possible target list of analytes, laboratories have a perfect chance to show to their clients the capacity to make a scan of any sample and be able to detect and correctly quantify the present analites while avoiding false positives.

TestQual's proficiency testing schemes are a useful tool for testing laboratories to demonstrate their competence and quality assurance of their analysis, a continous participation allows our clients to compare their results with other laboratories from the sector, follow up their performance and detect bias or errors that can be correctly approached with preventive or corrective actions.

By assiduously participating in PTs laboratories can assure their clients their commitment to the continous improvement and scaning of possible errors, offering always the security and trust that their results are always reliable and have been contrasted through an exhaustive internal quality control and continuous checks with the participation in TestQual's proficiency tests.

Additionally, from TestQual we make sure to listen to all the feedback given by our clients, making sure our PTs are designed accordingly with the needs and sugestions of our participants.

How to apply

Those laboratories that want to participate and are not registered on our website can register through this link: START REGISTRATION

If your laboratory is already registered on our website you can start your applciation by clicking the link situated at the bottom of this page, in APPLICATION FORM, once you have logged in you will have to enter your Limit of Quantification (LOQ) for the parameters that you want to report results if a positive is found. The analytes with LOQ equal to NA (NOT ANALYSED) will NOT appear in the website when submiting the results of the PT.

Once the application has been sent, as soon as possible you will receive an email with your laboratory code for the participation in the PT.

Contact data

If you want to get a quote or if we can help you somehow you can contact us by: