Press release ILVO antibiotic detection lab receives prestigious AFNOR recognition for validation of test kits
The ILVO lab for screening of antibiotic residues will now perform validation tests for antibiotic kits under the norms of the prestigious AFNOR (Association Française de Normalisation). Wim Reybroek, head of the ILVO lab, says “This is an international recognition of the quality of our screening lab.” And it means that more specialized work will come to ILVO. Companies making commercial test kits can now ask ILVO to use the strict AFNOR procedure to determine the validity of their kit to then obtain an NF validation label. ILVO has already started the process with one company.
The French AFNOR has subjected ILVO to a rigorous testing process before deciding to recognize ILVO as an expert lab for performing validation studies. ILVO researcher Wim Reybroeck will join the AFNOR technical committee on antibiotic testing.
A validation study tests the detection capacity, the specificity/selectivity, the application (on a certain matrix) and the robustness of a given qualitative screening test. Validation is important to show that a test works well in a certain matrix. The government and the food industry make use of these validation studies when choosing a test to use.
The ILVO lab, located in Melle (around Ghent) has been a leader in the detection of residues of veterinary medicines for years, using screening tests as well as chromatography (LC-MS/MS). This high-tech method not only identifies the residues but also quantifies them. The lab has a long tradition of performing validation studies from microbiological, immuno- or receptor tests for the monitoring of antibiotic residues in food products of animal origin such as milk, meat, fish, eggs and honey, but also in matrices such as water.
Now an NF Validation label can be obtained because the test kits are subjected to the tight AFNOR procedure. The label guarantees that a group of external experts has supervised the performance of the procedure and the reporting of the validation.
Recently ILVO received its first request for a validation study, referred via the AFNOR technical committee. Unisensor (Liège, BE) requested the validation of EXTENSO, a multiplex rapid screening test for more than 100 antibiotic residues, aflatoxin M1 and melamine is milk, done in 13 minutes. ILVO started on the assignment right away.
