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- Pilot project on the implementation of FoodEx2 as part of the Standard Sample Description for the electronic transmission of harmonised chemical occurrence data to EFSA (NP/EFSA/DCM/2012/03/01)Publication . Lopes, Ana; Ravasco, Francisco; Tomé, Sidney; Pereira, João; Dias, M. Graça; Vasco, Elsa; Oliveira, LuisaEFSA's Working Group on Food Classification launched in late 2011 the first version of a new and more comprehensive classification and description system for food and feed suitable for exposure assessment in different areas of food safety which was designated FoodEx2. Before being fully implemented, FoodEx2 needs to be tested in different applications, and commented on by users at national level and consequently be improved. Thus, in parallel to the development and implementation of the ‟CFP/EFSA/DATEX2011/01 - Implementation of Electronic Transmission of Chemical Occurrence Data in Portugal‟ project, INSA submitted an offer to the tender „Pilot projects on the implementation of FoodEx2 as part of the Standard Sample Description for the electronic transmission of harmonised chemical occurrence data to EFSA‟. Foodex2 system consists of a large number of individual food items, representing the minimum level of detail necessary to code/describe a food and feed sample to estimate dietary exposure, aggregated in groups and broader categories of food in a hierarchical structure like „parent-child‟ relationship. This characterization is improved with the use of facets. The term facet refers to a set of descriptors which allow detailing the characteristics of a food product according to various aspects such as physical state or preservation technique, among others. These activities of this project performed by INSA in the period October 2012-April 2013 are summarised in the present report.
- Performance of Human Fecal Anaerobe-Associated PCR-Based Assays in a Multi-Laboratory Method Evaluation StudyPublication . Layton, Blythe; Yiping, Cao; Ebentier, Darcy; Kaitlyn, Hanley; Ballesté, Elisenda; Brandão, João; Byappanahalli, Muruleedhara; Converse, Reagan; Farnleitner, Andreas; Gentry-Shields, Jennifer; Gidley, Maribeth; Gourmelon, Michèle; Soo Lee, Chang; Lee, Jiyoung; Lozach, Solen; Madi, Tania; Meijer, Wim; Noble, Rachel; Peed, Lindsay; Reischer, Georg; Rodrigues, Raquel; Rose, Joan; Schriewer, Alexander; Sinigalliano, Chris; Srinivasan, Sangeetha; Stewart, Jill; Van De Werfhorst, Laurie; Wang, Dan; Whitman, Richard; Wuertz, Stefan; Jay, Jenny; Holden, Patricia; Boehm, Alexandria; Shanks, Orin; Griffith, JohnA number of PCR-based methods for detecting human fecal material in environmental waters have been developed over the past decade, but these methods have rarely received independent comparative testing in large multi-laboratory studies. Here, we evaluated ten of these methods (BacH, BacHum-UCD, B. thetaiotaomicron (BtH), BsteriF1, gyrB, HF183 endpoint, HF183 SYBR, HF183 Taqman, HumM2, and M. smithii nifH (Mnif)) using 64 blind samples prepared in one laboratory. The blind samples contained either one or two fecal sources from human, wastewater or non-human sources. The assay results were assessed for presence/absence of the human markers and also quantitatively while varying the following: 1) classification of samples that were detected but not quantifiable (DNQ) as positive or negative; 2) reference fecal sample concentration unit of measure (such as culturable indicator bacteria, wet mass, total DNA, etc); and 3) human fecal source type (stool, sewage or septage). Assay performance using presence/absence metrics was found to depend on the classification of DNQ samples. The assays that performed best quantitatively varied based on the fecal concentration unit of measure and laboratory protocol. All methods were consistently more sensitive to human stools compared to sewage or septage in both the presence/absence and quantitative analysis. Overall, HF183 Taqman was found to be the most effective marker of human fecal contamination in this California-based study.