About the analytes

Fosetyl-Al

The fosetyl is an organophosphated compound used as a aluminum salt (Fosetyl-Al), this has fungal and bactericide activity f1  and is an allowed pesticide by the European legislation with an extended use in crops of fruit with seeds like pears, citrics and grape, to cite some of them f1,f2,f3.

Fosetyl tends to  degrade to ethanol and phosphonic acid f1,f3, this happens both in solution and also with the in-source fragmentation of the LC-MS/MS f4. To be taken into consideration is that phosphonic acid can suffer photodegradation in soil with the likely product being phosphate f3.

The current definition to express the amount of fosetyl in a sample is necessary to quantify its main metabolite, phosphonic acid, currently the pesticide residue for fosetyl is
Fosetyl-Al (sum of fosetyl, phosphonic acid and its salts, expressed as fosetyl) f5.

Glyphosate 

Glyphosate and other glyphosate-based plant protection products are mainly used to combat weeds that can compete with the target cultivated crops g1, g2 thanks to the herbicide mechanism that kills by inhibiting 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS) that is necessary to produce key components for the plants. This inhibition can disrupt one of the main mechanisms that allows plants to fix more the carbon they require. g3

Enough levels of glyphosate has been found to be toxic to aquatic life with long lasting effects g2 and endocrine disruptor that can cause an oxidative stress due to the overload of Ca2+ that disrupts male reproductive functions in rats.g4

For Glyphosate in the 2019 MRL review by EFSA different residue definitions were considered depending on if the crop was or not genetically modified to tolerate glyphosate. In this study it was considered that the main definition would depend on this, being Glyphosate a sufficient marker to monitor these levels on conventional crops but for genetically modified tolerant plant to glyphosate should defined and reported as: “sum of glyphosate, AMPA, N-Acetly-glyphosate and N-acetyl-AMPA, expressed as glyphosate”. g5

Multiresidues pesticides 

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 checking the protocol that can be found and downloaded in this page.

Why participate in a proficiency test?

There are many reasons to schedule these quality controls, the participation in international proficiency tests helps laboratories detect improvements and ensure the results are reliable.

As of today, one of the main goals for any laboratory is increase its client’s trust in their analysis procedure and results obtained, checking that equipment, personel, solvents and all the steps and parts involved in the analysis are working as intented, providing trustworthy and realiable results.

As a laboratory its is now more important than ever to be able to obtain results with precision and accuracy to help your clients commercialice products safe for the end-user.

The continuous participation in proficiency tests can help you detect bias and check if any change or improvement made as an effect on the results obtained.

TestQual's international proficiency tests are a great and reliable service to help you check your results against laboratories from  all around the world, helping you detect any deviation to correct it and ensure your clients continuous quality controls and improvements are being monitored by participating and checking your results against other laboratories.

Summary of the proficiency test

Download protocol

All the information about this PT can be found in the protocol, which can be downloaded from a link located in the right column of this page.

This proficiency test will consist in a single round with a single sample, the amount of sample is specifided in the protocol of this PT. If needed and justified, more amount of sample can be requested to the coordinator of the PT. Additional charges might apply.

The  range of concentration for the target analytes of this proficiency test can be found in the protocol.

The  target standard deviation for the analytes can be checked in the protocol.

The target analytes for this PT is specified in the protocol.

PT Scheduled calendar

Check the right column of this page, in the “Dates” section.

Only participants inscribed in the proficiency test will receive the sample instructions/recommendations and the definitive date for the distribution of samples.

Accreditation and standards

·Standars in which our proficiency tests are based/accredited:

·UNE-EN ISO/IEC 17043:2010 General requirements for proficiency testing. Parameters marked with (*) are not accredited, check our scope of accreditation here .

·UNE-EN ISO/IEC 15328:2015 Statistical methods for use in proficiency testing by interlaboratory comparison

· HARMONIZED PROTOCOL FOR THE PROFICIENCY TESTING OF (CHEMICAL) ANALYTICAL LABORATORIES

·SANTE Guide into force: ANALYTICAL QUALITY CONTROL AND METHOD VALIDATION PROCEDURES FOR PESTICIDE RESIDUES ANALYSIS IN FOOD AND FEED

·Quick Method for the Analysis of Highly Polar Pesticides in Food Involving Extraction with Acidified Methanol a nd LC - or I CMS/MS Measurement - I. Food of Plant Origin (QuPPe-PO-Method) –Version 12 (published on EURL-SRM website on July 23, 2021); M. Anastassiades; A.-K. Wachtler; D. I. Kolberg; E. Eichhorn; H. Marks; A. Benkenstein; S. Zechmann; D. Mack; C. Wi ldgrube; A. Barth; I. Sigalov; S.Görlich; D.Dörk andG. Cerchia. URL: https://www.eurl-pesticides.eu/docs/public/tmplt_article.asp?CntID=887&LabID=200&Lang=EN

Why international proficiency tests with TestQual?

·Founded in 2003, almost 20 years of experience in proficiency tests.

·Posibility, if previously requested, to issue independent reports per analyte family (contact us to check options and availability).

· International  proficiency tests with participants from different countries (currently up to 5 continents).

·Transparency: Results from spiking and quality controls (homogeneity, stability) available for any participant that requests it.

·Expanding network of distributors to give a better client service, using local language and within your time zone. If your country still does not have a distributor, please, contact us, we can still accept your order.

·We take care of all aspects we can of the shipping, so you can focus on the analysis.

·We are available at any time and any direct consult to TestQual usually has a response time below 24h (working days).

·We do not publish beforehand the price of shipping because we are constantly negotiating with providers and couriers to improve and adjust our prices. However, if you need a closed price in the quote and need to know the shipping costs, please, let us know and we will include it.

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 application by clicking the link situated at the top or bottom of this page, in  PARTICIPATE, once you have logged in you will have to enter your Limit of Quantification (LOQ) for the parameters that have to be studied. The analytes with LOQ equal to NA (NOT ANALYSED) will NOT appear in the website when submitting the results of the PT.

Once the application has been sent, as soon as possible (usually 24h) you will receive an email with your laboratory code for the participation in the PT.

**PT is considered useful if a certain % (internally determined according to our procedure) of present/spiked analytes will be studied.

Contact us

If you have any doubt, if you want to get a quote or if we can help you in any other way, we are looking forward to helping you:

Thank you very much for your interest/trust in TestQual and our international proficiency tests.

If you want to receive a sample and participate click on the button "Participate" down below.