3 / 8
QS-report:
fruit, vegetables, potatoes l issue march/2015
Economic operators and consumers alike
need to be able to trust the results of re-
sidue monitoring in fruit and vegetables.
To ensure that this trust is well-placed,
QS is examining the analysis abilities of
the QS-approved laboratories for the 10th
year. The laboratory performance assess-
ment, carried out twice annually, checks
whether the laboratories in the QS scheme
demonstrate a consistently high standard
when conducting residue analyses.
Perspectives
Three industry experts report on
the further development of the QS
laboratory performance assessment and
on the added value which results for the
economic operators and the participating
laboratories
Dr. Gustav Offenbächer
(expert in residue analysis and quality
control)
„In cooperation with
QS, the design of the
laboratory
perfor-
mance assessment
is continuously de-
veloped further and
adapted to current
industry issues. Dif-
ferent scenarios and degrees of difficulty
present themselves even during planning
of the test material from the combination
of sample type, substance properties,
Laboratories under examination
Residue monitoring in the QS scheme enters its 10th year
and residue content levels. Both new and
existing active substances are used. How-
ever, the focus is also on those substan-
ces which laboratories found problematic
to detect in previous tests. This approach
checks the individual substance analysis
spectrum of the laboratories. Moreover,
the laboratories are sensitised to critical
issues in analysis. In the future, greater
emphasis is to be placed on checking
transformation and degradation products
of substances, as well as substances for
which individual or special methods of de-
tection are required.“
Albrecht Friedle
(CEO, Labor Friedle GmbH)
„As
a
laborato-
ry that has been
involved
in
the
scheme since the
very beginning, we
have fully partici-
pated in all 17 QS
performance
as-
sessments. In addition to the mandatory
participation, voluntary participation was
also always a matter of course for us. We
are motivated by the objective evidence of
our consistent analytical quality over the
years, which our customers greatly appre-
ciate. We are very proud of this documen-
tation and will continue this tradition in the
future. For us, it is positive that the subs-
tances to be detected are current, widely
used and, in some, cases, difficult to analyse. The fact that there
was a predefined substance spectrum at the start shows the gro-
wing demands on laboratories; today, this kind of spectrum no lon-
ger exists, which means that the laboratories need to keep them-
selves up to date with respect to new substances for analysis. The
introduction of several test materials with different substances,
the varying sample receipt times, and the practice-oriented pro-
cessing time of only three days represent further intensification of
the test design, which raises the standard of the QS performance
assessment. This development is clearly confirmed by the result of
the latest autumn test, in which only eleven of the 63 participating
laboratories had a 100 percent detection rate.“
Rolf Viersbach
(Quality Manager for operative quality assurance of fresh produce,
REWE Zentral AG)
„In principle, REWE Zentral AG only works
with QS-approved laboratories. Aside
from the commercial arguments, we have
the aim of working with the best residue
laboratories. This is particularly important
to us because, in the event of non-com-
pliance with the REWE residue guideline,
appropriate measures can be taken against
the production companies causing the nonconformity or against
suppliers. The high failure rates and deviating individual results in
laboratory performance assessments show clear analytic deficits
again and again, particularly in laboratories that are not yet ap-
proved. However, from my point of view, the current test assess-
ment system is fair. The performance assessments are designed in
such a way that laboratories cannot “copy” one another. This cer-
tainly separates the wheat from the chaff and gives the institutes
with deficits the opportunity to continuously improve.“
3
QS-certified producers have the possibi-
lity to participate in the so-called “Regio-
nalfenster” labelling system and thereby
deliver to licensees of this system without
conducting an additional audit.
Regional Marketing
QS audits on traceability recognised
The “Regionalfenster” inspection system, which translates literal-
ly as “regional window”, has the aim of regularly checking and
assuring the product-specific statements on origin by means of a
comprehensive inspection and assurance system. The recognition
of the QS audit, during which the Regionalfenster provisions are
checked at the same time, was agreed recently with Regionalfens-
ter e.V. and avoids double auditing. “With this service, we provide
QS-certified producers with new sales opportunities without the
additional costs and workload of double auditing”, explains Dr.
Hermann-Josef Nienhoff, MD of QS Qualität und Sicherheit GmbH.
“The workload for participating in Regionalfenster is reduced to
a minimum.”
The QS and QS-GAP Production standards provide all require-
ments for recognition in Regionalfenster for fruit, vegetables and
potatoes. Both guidelines already contain all requirements to
guarantee regional assignment of products.
One additional requirement was added,
compliance with which is mandatory when a
QS company registers with Regionalfenster.
Registration takes place via a coordinator
in the QS database. For this purpose, inte-
rested scheme participants need to provide
their coordinator with a “Declaration of par-
ticipation in Regionalfenster for QS-certi-
fied companies”.
QS-certified producers have
the possibility to participate in the
“Regionalfenster” without conducting
an additional audit.