Eurofins is the first to provide testing of pesticides and melamine to European standards in China
19 December, 2008
Eurofins’ new food testing laboratory in Suzhou, near Shanghai, China is the first facility in that country to have developed capabilities for testing pesticides and melamine/cyanuric acid that are approved by and identical to the latest European standards of testing available at its world-leading Competence Centres, Eurofins Dr. Specht and WEJ, based in Hamburg, Germany. This further strengthens Eurofins’ global offering and its position as the world’s leading food testing company.
Since the crisis in melamine contamination started earlier this year, Eurofins has been offering testing to customers in Europe and the USA whilst its food laboratory in China carried out internal validation. The Suzhou laboratory is now fully operational and is able to offer this latest generation of melamine and cyanuric acid testing for customers who require or prefer testing to be done locally.
Now in addition it has also implemented advanced tests and methodologies for pesticides testing, using QuECheRS extraction LCMS/ MS and GC-MS analysis, that are available for a wide variety of food matrices and cover approximately 300 pesticides. These methods have been developed under the guidance and to the standards of the Eurofins Competence Centre for pesticide residue testing, Dr Specht Laboratories in Hamburg, Germany. In fact, Eurofins Dr. Specht developed the multi-residue method that then became Europe’s official standard for pesticide testing.
Validation of the methods has been monitored and confirmed by the laboratory in Germany and extensive collaborative testing between the two countries has confirmed the suitability of the Suzhou laboratory for testing in terms of reproducibility, precision and accuracy of the testing.
As a fundamental part of this, Eurofins’ Suzhou laboratory has implemented a Quality Management System to European standards, for which ISO17025 accreditation has been granted by CNAS in China this month. The close involvement of Eurofins’ European laboratories, in particular Eurofins Dr Specht and Eurofins WEJ, in the development of the Suzhou laboratory enables it to recommend the facility as being capable of the highest standards of analysis. Furthermore, this month the laboratory was approved by General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of China for the inspection and testing of imported & exported goods.
Supplementary analytical services for special parameters or sample matrices can also be provided through the Suzhou laboratory, such as advice and testing for the 17 compounds recently banned in China for use as food additives. As it has done for many years for European and US governments and their agencies, Eurofins has developed a close working relationship with China’s own government agencies in charge of food safety. Eurofins is able to support them in their mission to ensure that food supplies are safe by providing the latest and most reliable testing methods to industry and commerce.
Eurofins’ CEO, Dr Gilles Martin, commented on this development “Eurofins is demonstrating its commitment to provide the services its customers need, where they need them, at an identical level of quality as they would find anywhere else in the world. We are happy to put the abilities and proficiencies of the new laboratory to the benefit of the food industry, retailers, importers and to continue to work with the Chinese authorities in order to assist them to reach their objectives.”
For further information please contact:
Investor Relations
Phone: +32-2-769 7383
E-mail: ir@eurofins.com
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