Reference Materials and Interlaboratory comparison

Current state of the art

For supporting the harmonisation of analytical methods and the development of international monitoring programs aimed to identify and quantify food contamination, and to facilitate the take-up of the results by industries and end-users, high quality certified reference materials as well as test materials for screening and migration studies of food packaging are required. For some neat contaminants and combinations of contaminants/food matrices reference material are already present on the market, for some of them, they are still lacking and are urgently required by industries and control bodies. Specifically, there are no reference materials supporting the quality control of MOSH/MOAH quantification in food-related matrices available for analytical laboratories. In addition, reference materials for both legacy and emerging PFAS in food matrices are lacking, in particular covering the relevant concentration ranges addressed by the latest recommendations.

Progresses beyond the state of the art

For the first time, reference materials will be developed for the quality control of MOSH/MOAH determination in food by analytical laboratories. This includes a vegetable oil, an infant formula and MOSH/MOAH in a matrix-free solution. Thus, a comprehensive toolset for reliable and comparable MOSH/MOAH analyses including the improved standard, associated training and reference materials will emerge from this project. In case of PFAS, the project will arrive at the most appropriate matrix and range of PFAS compounds for the development of a reference material. This work supports two pieces of EU legislation [1-2] setting maximum levels for certain contaminants in foodstuffs and maximum residue levels in feed of plant and animal origin.
Also, within the project, test materials will be developed for validating analytical methods for screening and migration studies for key contaminants. Relevant analytes (e.g., mineral oils, PFAS, inks residues, metals) and packaging matrices (e.g., PET, PS, PP, paper and paperboard, PLA) will be prioritised and addressed by the project. The reference materials produced within the project will be available for industries and stakeholders and will provide input to existing standard guidelines and standard methods for chemical and safety properties of packaging materials.

[1] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32023R0915
[2] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32022H1431