15
Reference laboratories
National reference laboratories work on standards for
food monitoring in order to ensure the safety of food
products throughout the entire EU. For this purpose,
17 reference laboratories in the areas of food and feed
safety and food hygiene are attached to the BfR. The
laboratories are divided into two groups: national refer-
ence laboratories in accordance with Regulation (EC)
882/2004 and other BfR laboratories with reference
function.
The reference laboratories pursuant to Regulation (EC)
882/2004 attached to the BfR are involved in both food
chemistry analysis as well as molecular biology and mi-
crobiology testing. They are appointed by the Federal
Ministry of Food and Agriculture. Their work is based on
various legal regulations such as the German Food and
Feed Code as well as laws and regulations on consumer
goods.
Due to the nature of their task, the national reference lab-
oratories act as watchdogs for the timely identification of
occurring risks. Their work forms the basis for national
and, increasingly, international exposure assessments.
The main job of reference laboratories is to develop and
validate methods and to perform laboratory comparison
tests (Interlaboratory Tests) for the purpose of quality as-
surance. The creation of national reference laboratories
ensures that work is carried out in line with uniform stand-
ards all over Europe. This is of particular importance for
the monitoring and control of food products, which are
generally covered by the principle of the free movement
of goods within the European Union. The national refer-
ence laboratories also act as a national link between the
community reference laboratories of the EU and the food
surveillance authorities of the EU member states.
Alongside these national reference laboratories based
on EU law, there are also other institutions of the BfR that
perform a reference function in other connections. These
include the Reference Laboratory in the Network of Ge-
netically Modified Organisms, the Senior Expert Office
for the Import Control of Wine in accordance with the
Wine Monitoring Ordinance and the Zoonoses Report-
ing unit.
Methods are developed and validated in the BfR reference laboratories for tasks such as the analysis of mineral oil residues
in food products.
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