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.

Dioxin-like PCBs are toxic chemicals persistent in the environment that lasts years and tend to accumulate in fatty tissues of animals, it acumulates in low levels of the food chain. PCBs are undesired by-products obtained from thermal and industrial processes ¹.

The effects on health are numerous as it can affect the nervous, immune and endocrine systems, it may also cause cancer and the continous exposure can lower the quality of the sperm and impairing the reporductive function ².

You can see the possible pesticides and PCBs 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 in the right column of this page. 

This proficiency test will consist in a single round, one sample will be distributed following the calendar on the protocol, the amount of sample sent can be checked in the protocol of the PT.

TestQual keeps confidential the analytes chosen for this PT and the concentration, however the range of concentration expected for the target analytes of this proficiency test might by between 10 and 200 μg/kg approximately.

The target standard desviation for all the analytes is 25%.

IMPORTANT:

All analytes left  as NOT ANALYSED (NA) during the application will not be asked when reporting the results.

PT CALENDAR

 Check the calendar in "Dates" on the right column of this page.

*These dates are orientative and always will have to be checked in the protocol of this PT, which also can downloaded from this page, and the news in our webpage.

Why participate with TestQual? Is this PT accredited?

·Accreditated PT under the UNE-EN ISO/IEC 17043:2010. Check our accreditation scope here.

·TestQual has been organizing since 2013 one PT per year of pesticides and PCBs in vegetable oil. 

·Constantly negotiating with providers and couriers to get the best price possible. Each year more participants partake in our PTs, increasing our volume of shippigns and reducing the cost of the shipments.

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 and get your laboratory code

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 us

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

Thank you for your trust in TestQual and our proficiency tests.