The Joint Research Centre (JRC), a Directorate-General of the European Commission, operates the European Union Reference Laboratory (EURL) for Mycotoxins. One of its core tasks is to organise proficiency tests (PTs) among appointed National Reference Laboratories (NRLs). This report presents the...

Histamine fish poisoning is an allergy-like form of food poisoning that continues to be a major problem in seafood safety. The FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius as well as EU legislation have therefore set maximum limits for histamine in fish and fish products. The analytical methods requested by Codex...

Throughout history, there have been several deadly episodes of food poisoning by ergot alkaloids (EAs) (known as St. Anthony's fire or ergotism). EAs are secondary metabolites produced by fungi of the Claviceps genus (chiefly Claviceps purpurea), which are common pathogens of cereals and pasture...

This report presents the results of the ILC of the EURL for Mycotoxins which focused on the determination of patulin in apple juice samples. Fifty-one participants from 27 countries (among them 30 NRLs and 21 official food control laboratories) registered for the exercise and 50 sets (Sample A...

This report presents the results of a proficiency test of the EU-RL for Mycotoxins which focused on the determination of aflatoxin B1 in food and feed samples. Sixty nine participants from 28 countries registered for the exercise. Sixty-one sets of results were reported for the solution, 58 for...

The Joint Research Centre (JRC), a Directorate-General of the European Commission operates the European Union Reference Laboratory (EURL) for Mycotoxins. One of its core tasks is to organise proficiency tests (PTs) among designated National Reference Laboratories (NRLs). This report presents the...

This report presents the results of the PT of the EURL for Mycotoxins which focused on the determination of zearalenone in maize oil. Forty-eight participants from thirty countries (among them 32 NRLs, 2 Non-EU Reference Laboratories and 13 official food control laboratories) registered for the...

The number of known mycotoxins, their precursors and metabolites has been steadily increasing over the past years. The European Commission puts special emphasis on the need to monitor the co-occurrence of mycotoxins of various families at levels that allow for a sound risk assessment, taking...

This report presents the results of the ILC of the EU-RL for Mycotoxins which focused on the determination of aflatoxin B1 (AfB1), deoxynivalenol (DON) and fumonisin B1 (FB1) in cereal samples. Seventy one participants from 31 countries registered for the exercise. Fifty-nine sets of results...

A method validation study was conducted according to the IUPAC harmonised protocol for the determination of ochratoxin A in Capsicum spp. (paprika and chilli). The method is based on the extraction of the samples with an aqueous methanol solution, followed by immunoaffinity cleanup. The...