This publication, by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI), identifies a range of analytical techniques that, when performed by expert laboratories incorporating suitable controls, could identify anomalies within a food which may help to determine the authenticity of that food.
This report has been prepared in response to a request for advice from the FSAI to its Scientific Committee. The report indicates specific or general analytical controls and criteria that are required to ensure that the results obtained are reliable and reproducible.
The report also emphasises that to be fit for purpose, laboratory techniques and their application must incorporate various critical controls at the sampling, processing, and analysis stages.
The report addresses two important questions:
- What are the essential criteria (e.g. specificity, linearity, range, accuracy, reproducibility, precision, etc.) for unaccredited analytical techniques to be acceptable and reliable tools in examining the food chain, particularly in assessing food authenticity?
- For the different categories of analytical tests (e.g. spectroscopic, molecular, omics etc.), what are the analytical controls feasible or necessary to ensure that methods are fit for purpose and results are accurate, reliable, and reproducible?
This report has also been added to the Quality section of this website.
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