Laboratories

All Laboratories

SCOPE

- Official control, monitoring, surveillance and applied research in the fields of:

Environmental and other food contaminants (heavy metals, nitrates/nitrites/nitrosamines, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, acrylamide, ethyl carbamate etc.)

Natural toxins in foodstuffs: aflatoxins (B1, B2, G1, G2 and total aflatoxins) and M1, ochratoxin A (OTA), fumonisines (FB1, FB2 and total fumonisines), trichothecenes (ZON, DON, T-2 and HT-2), ergotamines, enniatines, citrinin, Alternaria toxins etc.

Plant toxins in foodstuffs: tropane alkaloids, pyrrolizidines alkaloids, opium alkaloids, THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol in hemp seeds and products) in certain foodstuffs.

- The protection of public health and the promotion of Good Agricultural Practices, Food Safety and relevant strategies is ensured via the control, monitoring and research conducted in the laboratory, in order to check whether the food under examination is in accordance with the demands of the European Food Regulations [(EC) 625/2017 and (EC) 1881/2006 and their amendments] and the Cyprus legislation in general. Furthermore, the preventive nature of the exercised control is intended to contribute to ensuring the quality and long-term chemical safety of food.

ACTIVITIES

(a) Compliance Control, Monitoring and Surveillance programmes

Appropriate coordinating programmes are designed at the beginning of each year according to previous known problems, using information taken by the EU Rapid Alert System (RASFF) and violations from the relevant legislation, taking into account the increased consumption by the consumers and especially higher risk population groups (e.g. children). The programmes are as far as possible prevention oriented.

National Monitoring Programme for the Prevention and Control of Aflatoxins/ Mycotoxins in foodstuffs. Samples are taken at critical control points i.e. import, primary storage, processing, market etc. Target samples are: nuts, dried fruits, cereals, oily seeds, spices, milk and their products.

Compliance Control and Monitoring Programme for Heavy Metals in foodstuffs:

Pb, Cd and other elements in food except food supplements

Hg in liver, molluscs, fish, meat and milk

As in fish, molluscs, cereals and milk

Sn in canned food

iAs in rice, rice wafers, and rice-based baby food

I2 (Iodine) in algae, halophytes and algae-based products

Compliance control and monitoring programme of Mycotoxins (B1, B2, G1, G2, total aflatoxins, OTA, ZON, DON, Fumonisines FB1, FB2, ergotamines, enniatines, citrinin, Alternaria toxins) in cereals, nuts and their products, with the Multimycotoxin method.

Control and monitoring programme of Plant toxins [tropane alkaloids, pyrrolizidine alkaloids, opium alkaloids, THC( Tetrahydrocannabinol and other cannabis-based products)], etc. in cereals, seeds, herbs, herbal extracts, honey and their products, with the Multimycotoxin method.

Compliance control and monitoring programme of food processing contaminants (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, acrylamide, furan, alkyl-furans 2-MCPD, 3-MCPD and Glycidyl esters), with the Multimycotoxin method.

National residue programme for the Monitoring/ Control of Residues of toxic metals, mycotoxins (Aflatoxin M1 in milk and Aflatoxin B1 in honey) and ochratoxin A in meat and animal products according to relevant E.U. legislation 808/2021 and the annexes of the relevant European Directive 96/23/EC

(b) Functions as an NRL/National Collaborations/Research

The laboratory is the National Reference Laboratory (NRL) for Mycotoxins & Plant toxins in Foodstuffs, Heavy Metals and Nitrogenous Compounds of plant and animal-origin food, Food Processing contaminants, as required by the European Regulation 2017/625.

i) Participation in the European Councils/Expert Committees/Scientific Networks-EFSA

The laboratory participates in the annual workshops (EU-RLs) and proficiency tests, as well as the development of new methods, organized by the following European Reference Laboratories:

WFSR-EURL-MP- Wageningen – Mycotoxins & Plant toxins in food and feed

EURL-MN-DTU-Denmark-Heavy Metals and Nitrogenous compounds in food and feed

EURL-PC-DTU-Denmark-Processing Contaminants in food

ii) The Senior Chemist, the head of the Laboratory and the analysts / chemists participate in the Expert Committee of the E.E, at the annual EURL workshops, and the meetings of the EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) Scientific networks.

iii) The Laboratory participated and participates in:

EMTOX (Effects of climate change on emerging natural toxins in plant and seafood production) (2009-2011).

Pilot projects on target food stuffs e.g. potatoes, traditional barbeque grilled or smoke and cured meat, cereals, coffee, wine and beer, for the determination of the incidence and levels of: nitrates/nitrites, nitrosamines, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, heavy metals (Pb, Cd and Hg), aflatoxins, aflatoxin M1, Mycotoxins OTA, ZEA, DON, fumonisins and other mycotoxins.

DiTECT (Digital Technologies as an enabler for continuous transformation of food safety management systems) (2020-2023).

PARC (Partnership on the Assessment of Risks from Chemicals) – Integrative risk assessment activity mixtures (2022-2028).

iv) Method development and validation in the field of food contaminants and mycotoxins, plant toxins, heavy metals, and other food contaminants, i.e.:

Participation in standardization Activities of CEN (SM & T programme of E.C.) for the development and validation of an E.U. official Method for the determination in other new mycotoxins and plant toxins, i.e. Alternaria toxins, Ergot Alkaloids, Tropane alkaloids, Opium alkaloids, Cannabis-based products, as well as food processing contaminants, i.e. furan and alkyl-furan, acrylamide, fatty acids esters with 3-MCPD and Glycidyl esters in food products.

Participation in collaborative trials for future E.U legislation for the control of new and other contaminants in general.

The data produced under the above programmes/activities, are published in scientific international journals (JAOAC International, Food Additives and Contaminants, etc.) or in the proceedings through participation in International or Regional Symposiums (FAO/WHO, UNEP, IUPAC etc.).

COLLABORATIONS AT NATIONAL LEVEL

The laboratory provides scientific advice:

To the Food Council, towards harmonization with the Acquis Communautaire.

To the EFSA Scientific networks, with the participation of the Senior Chemist and the Head of Laboratory

To the Food Safety Council of Cyprus, with the participation of Senior Chemist

Ad-hoc committees in Cyprus concerning Risk assessment from several substances, food contaminants, etc. with the participation of the laboratory staff.

To the development and application of the Improrisk model (Risk assessment model for Food Contaminants), as well as other Risk assessment tools concerning chemical food safety, with participation of the laboratory staff.

The scope of accreditation of the Laboratory according to ISO/IEC 17025:2017can be found on the web page CYS-CYSAB (Accredited Bodies, Laboratories of the State General Laboratory of Cyprus).

Εργαστήρια	Πεδία Δραστηριοτήτων	Διαπίστευση
Food Composition, Food Quality and Nutritional Value (Lab 1)
Food Customs Control and Other Samples (Lab 17)
Food Additives and Special Analyses of Food (Lab 13)
Environmental and Other Food Contamination & Natural Toxins (Lab 14)
Veterinary Drug Residues (Lab 5)
Pesticide Residues and POPs (Lab 8)
Food Microbiology (Lab 16)
Food Molecular Biology and Immunology (Lab 21)
Food Authenticity - NMR (Lab 20)
Food and Environment Radioactivity (Lab 9)
General Water Analysis (Lab 2)
Environmental Water Contamination (Lab 6)
Environmental Chemistry and Control of Effluents (Lab 10)
Water and Drug Microbiology (Lab 15)
Ecotoxicology (Lab 7)
Toxic Chemicals in Materials and Human Biomonitoring (Lab 11)
Pharmaceuticals (Lab 4)
Cosmetics and Food Supplements (Lab 19)
Food Contact Materials and Safety of Toys (Lab 12)
Forensic Chemistry and Toxicology (Lab 3)