Independent testing laboratory for food safety

Eurofins Analytical Services Hungary Kft’s Food Testing Laboratory has, together with the National Food Chain Safety Office (Nébih), held one of the most successful and largest scale Hungalimentaria conferences of the past decades in mid-April this year: during the event, which was attended by nearly 400 participants and where 60 presentations were delivered and 20 exhibitions staged, key stakeholders of food safety in Hungary discussed the most important topical challenges of the segment. The most important presentations delivered at the conference are processed in a series of articles and visual materials were posted on the Hungalimentaria website as well. How do microbes behave in a laboratory and how can they be identified in the quickest way possible? What is the current situation regarding the control of allergens and drinking water regulation? First we discuss the results achieved by the Eurofins Group in Hungary.

How do microbes behave in a laboratory? What are challenge tests good for?

The challenge test is one in which the behaviour of a given pathogenic microbe is examined in a laboratory under controlled environmental conditions to see whether it poses any food safety risk. This type of test is suitable for the validation of technological processes/storage conditions and for the establishment of a product’s shelf-life – said Tamás Vadasi, head of the food safety division of the Budapest laboratory of Eurofins Analytical Services Hungary Kft., legal successor of WESSLING Hungary Kft.

These types of tests may need to be carried out primarily in cases when the possible presence and potential proliferation of pathogens is to be checked, a new product is being developed or the composition of a product already on the market or the technology of its production is intended to be changed, or heat treatment processes are to be validated. Such tests take place, for instance, when it has to be determined whether there is a need for heat treatment in the manufacture of canned food by modelling the survival of C botulinum, or when the survival of Listeria monocytogenes in cold-stored ready-to eat food products is examined.

The duration, temperature and other circumstances and parameters of the challenge test are determined by the shelf-life intended to be guaranteed and/or the intended test duration and temperature. Samples are recommended to be taken at least three times, at the start and at the end of the test, as well as in between the two. Further important information can be obtained from samples taken after the end of the product’s shelf life, as well as from mapping the product’s natural microflora – noted Tamás Vadasi, adding that the regulations applying to the test have been modified multiple times during the past 15 years but their purpose – that is, to determine the safe shelf life or use-by-date – has remained the same.

Testing for food allergens in the laboratory:

Eurofins Food Analytica food testing laboratory has been performing allergen measurements, with a very high degree of proficiency. As was explained by Csaba Ábrahám, head of the long-established laboratory in the town of Gyula, their laboratory performs some 20 thousand allergen tests a year, on samples not only from Hungary but also from a number of other countries (including the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Romania, Portugal, Turkey) and can produce results very quickly, even in one day, when necessary.

Photo: Eurofins Analytical Services Hungar Kft. knowledge centre in Budapest

However, the testing of samples for fourteen allergens poses multiple challenges to laboratory staff: various methods and techniques are available (ELISA and PCR being the most important ones) and the different methods might produce different results. Since there are no fixed limit values apart from gluten, but manufacturers are obliged to indicate allergens, issuing a statement on whether a given product contains such substances at all, comes with an extremely high responsibility. The professionals working at Food Analytica tackle even this challenge with a high degree of assurance, nonetheless, Csaba Ábrahám made mention of the importance of sampling as well: no matter how well a lab may perform the tests, results can easily be corrupted by an inadequately taken sample.

Watch the public slides of the Hungalimentaria presentations here!

New regulation on drinking water

The most important question in relation to drinking water today perhaps is whether there is enough of it for everybody. This problem affects not only developing countries, because, oddly enough, not even in the European Union does everybody have access to healthy drinking water – said Zoltán Palotai, head of the Environmental Division of Eurofins Analytical Services Hungary Kft. who has recently participated in the drafting of legislation as representative of Hungarian Water Utility Association (MAVÍZ) under the leadership of the National Public Health Centre (NKK).

In view of the severity of the above problem important new parameters have been introduced to both the relevant European and domestic regulations concerning the testing of drinking water, aimed at making the consumption of our food even safer. Such new parameters include, for instance, Bisphenol A, PFAS compounds, haloacetic acids, microcystin-LR, chlorate, somatic coliphages, legionella and testate amoebae.

One recently introduced change in risk analysis is that it is carried out on the basis of the catchment area of the extraction point, the water supply system and the in-house system. The authority has a more room for controlling (things other than the mandatory parameters may also be investigated, depending on the specifics of the area concerned).

It is interesting and thought-provoking fact is that only some 2-4% of the drinking water is actually used for drinking and cooking in an average household – Mr. Palotai added.

How can bacteria be quickly identified? About the MALDI-TOF method

MALDI-TOF is a matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization–time of flight mass spectrometry technique which has enabled tremendous progress in the identification of bacterium and fungus species – said Kinga Fornyos, representing Eurofins Vetcontrol Kft..

This technique – which may, to the layman, sound like something from the world of science fiction – can provide crucially important information on the size and mass of the molecule for the identification of genus and species.

The tests are based on the protein profiles of microorganisms, which is of great help for specialists in areas of food production, clinical diagnostics and veterinary medicine as well as scientific research. One major advantage offered by the technique over DNA based methods is that it requires no specific antibodies, primers and tests.

MALDI-TOF is an extremely simple and quick technique: 96 samples are identified in a maximum of 1-1.5 hours. Specialists are assisted in evaluating the results by a user-friendly software and a mass spectral library provided by the manufacturer.

Why do samples have to be tested for tropane alkaloids? Regulatory background and analytical experience

Belladonna, henbane, thorn apple, coca plant... One common attribute of these plants is that each might contain substances affecting the central and the peripheral nervous system. Substance transferred from weeds into foodstuffs and livestock feed during harvest must be tested regularly, according to the expert opinion of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Commission’s regulation on contaminants in foodstuffs.

“Under the 2021 amendment to the relevant regulation new maximum levels have been set for tropane alkaloids in certain foodstuffs. Such foodstuffs include cereal-based baby foods, certain cereals and herb teas. Unfortunately, particular attention is warranted not only by the regulatory background but also the fact that products withdrawals and positive tests occur frequently in Hungary as well” – said Gábor Balázs, of Eurofins Analytical Services Hungary Kft.

Tropane alkaloids are so-called secondary metabolites, naturally occurring in a variety of plants. When such plants grow near crops they may be harvested together with the crop and end up in the food chain; consumed in larger quantities they affect the functioning of the central and the vegetative nervous system, cause mouth dryness, pupil dilation, cardiac arrhythmia and other nervous system symptoms.

Of the tropane alkaloids a laboratory must be capable of identifying at least atropine and scopolamine by all means. EFSA has even set strict limit values for these two substances: in the case of foodstuffs produced for babies and small children, containing millet, sorghum and buckwheat, or processed cereal-based foodstuffs containing products originating from these, the maximum ratio is 1 μg/kg. The European Commission’s relevant regulation set strict limit values from 1 September 2022 also for maize, buckwheat, millet and dried plant products used as the basis of medicinal herb infusions.

Accordingly, farmers, food industry companies and distributors alike, should pay particular attention to the presence of tropane alkaloids in their products and make sure to have their products regularly tested by laboratories. Both compounds are tested at the Food Analysis Laboratory of Eurofins Analytical Services Hungary Kft. using sophisticated techniques of chromatography and mass spectrography.

Colour code for traders, for testing for plant protection product contamination

Fruitmonitoring is joint system used by trading companies for testing products for pesticide residues, the aim of which is to give a current overview of chemical residues of products distributed primarily on the German market, said Emese Tóth, of Eurofins Analytical Services Hungary Kft.

The laboratory measurements taken through the Fruitmonitoring system make it possible to detect samples containing crop protection product residues even before the product concerned is placed on the market. Eurofins Analytical Services Hungary Kft. – capable of quickly and simultaneously detecting nearly 600 different chemical compounds – helps the identification of fruits and vegetables containing crop protection products above the relevant limit values, by generating highly useful data.

The results of the laboratory tests are transferred to the central system of Fruitmonitoring, where besides the uploading of the laboratory test report, in order to facilitate the transparency of the system, the samples are, based on the system’s own evaluation, are assigned the following colour codes: green (low or undetectable contamination), yellow (concentration close to the limit value) and red (higher than the limit). Eurofins is the only domestic accredited laboratory that is authorised to access this system.