The event aimed at raising awareness among key stakeholders on how nuclear, isotopic and related technologies support food safety and quality control and to promote cross-cutting policy dialogue for food safety and trade.

The expected outputs/outcomes are strengthened regional collaboration among key food safety stakeholders including laboratories, regulators, and decision-makers; enhanced coordination mechanisms through existing capacity building and research projects and from 2026 and beyond. These mechanisms would facilitate the consistent implementation of food safety standards and measures across various government ministries and agencies. Food safety priority areas would also be discussed/identified. The participants discussed among others, food safety policy framework; food control management and the role of decision-makers; data and information to support risk-based control measures (including risk-based inspection); technology transfer and dissemination as well as scale-up national laboratory system; food safety communication and education as well as regional collaboration and coordination.

The CRP arises from a need to study and evaluate the metabolism and residue depletion kinetics of a priority list of veterinary drugs and related substances used in food-producing animals. Several IAEA Member States have no, or insufficient data to facilitate the setting of internationally or nationally acceptable standards such as maximum residue levels (MRLs) and address pertinent public health and trade bottlenecks. Setting MRLs requires scientific datasets, including residue depletion data, to enable risk assessment by recognized assessors such as  the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives and similar bodies. The depletion rates and patterns can be estimated using radiolabelled drugs in target animals. Due to urgent calls by several Member States, the 24th Codex Committee for Residues of Veterinary Drugs (CCRVDF) in foods in May 2018 (FAO/WHO, 2018) identified some priority compounds for immediate attention including, but not limited to: a) amoxicillin in goats, poultry; b) ampicillin in cattle, pigs, horses, goats, sheep, fish, poultry; c) trypanocides, e.g. diminazene, in sheep, goats; d) imidocarb in horses; ivermectin in horses, goats, camels, poultry; e) oxytetracycline in honey, camels, horses, and goats etc. These compounds and animals are a starting point for further work that will greatly help Member States – especially by developing countries – overcome their inabilities to effectively contribute to the process of setting MRLs.

The training also discussed the outcomes of monitoring programs in the EU regarding residues and contaminants. The training further provided information on the National Residue Control Program according to Regulations 2022/1644 and 2022/1646, including the minimum number of samples, and discussed the importance of a representative sample selection in the National Residue Control Plan as well as the role of official and reference laboratories in animal product surveillance in the EU. Other areas covered were the assessment and interpretation of laboratory results by inspectors, with a focus on food and feed control purposes. The requirements for the validation of analytical methods for testing residues and contaminants in the EU were also discussed, including the validation parameters, such as specificity, stability, recovery factor, and detection capability. An overview of Regulation 808/2021, which sets out the requirements for the validation of analytical methods for testing residues and contaminants in the EU, and SANTE/11312/2021, which discusses the requirements related to quality assurance, calibration of equipment, and selection of the methodology for the analysis of pesticide residue testing in accordance with the requirements of ISO 17025 were also addressed.

The purpose as to contribute towards strengthening the quality management systems in food safety laboratories in the Asia-Pacific, so they render better and reliable services to end users and also contribute to the process of accreditation in the long run. The event will focus training on production, handling and distribution of proficiency testing material for food safety testing according to ISO17043.

The training was conducted over five days and attended by 28 participants from 11 countries Bangladesh, Indonesia, Iran, Islamic Republic of,  Jordan, Lao PDR, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Oman, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Qatar, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. The training sessions included presentations, group laboratory practical session, group exercises, and interactive discussion regarding the experience of participants either participated in proficiency testing or organized the proficiency testing.

Overall, this addressed: Production of proficiency testing (PT) and certified reference material (CRM) for a food safety laboratory – chemical hazards e.g. veterinary drug and pesticides and mycotoxins etc; handling, processing, transportation of such PT material/CRM; appropriate use of such PTs/CRMs in a food safety laboratory to enhance quality management; troubleshooting challenges associated with production, handling, shipping and supply of PTs and CRMs; guidance (including requirements and preparedness) of a laboratory that wants to produce PTs and CRMs. Others were the planning of an entire PT programme including statistical design; analysis and evaluation of PT data; production of a PT report; case studies on implementation of 17043 and interaction with teams involved in PTs (e.g. veterinary drug and pesticides and mycotoxins etc) It was noted that the level of knowledge of attendees in proficiency testing varied depending on their experiences with ISO/IEC 17043:2016 and ISO 13528. Those who have been providing the proficiency testing to laboratories within their countries showed knowledge mostly in implementing ISO/IEC 17043:2016. There was significant interest in both veterinary drugs and mycotoxins.