Report on the 9th inter-laboratory comparison organised by the European Union Reference Laboratory for Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons - Four marker PAHs in spiked olive oil

The proficiency test here reported concerned the determination of the four marker polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in an olive oil test sample: benz[a]anthacene, benzo[a]pyrene, benzo[b]fluoranthene, and chrysene. Participants to these PT were National Reference Laboratories for PAHs (NRLs-PAHs) and EU official food control laboratories. The number of participants was 50. The PT was organised according to ISO Standard 17043:2010. The test material used was olive oil spiked with the target PAHs. Participants also received a solution of the PAHs either in an organic solvent for checking their instrument calibration. The results from participants were rated with z-scores and zeta-scores. About 96 % and 88 % of the results reported by NRLs and OCLs respectively were attributed with z-scores with an absolute value of below two, which is the threshold for satisfactory performance. The zeta-score ratings were worse, which indicates problems in the estimation of reliable measurement uncertainty values.JRC.D.5-Standards for Food Bioscienc

European Commission Initiative on Breast Cancer – ECIBC: Organisation of project guiding and support meetings report – 2014

The Joint Research Centre (JRC) coordinates the European Commission's Initiative on Breast Cancer (ECIBC). The ECBIC has two main tasks: 1) the development of a voluntary European quality assurance (QA) scheme for breast cancer services based on an EU legislative framework on accreditation covering all stages and aspects of care and 2) the set-up of the evidence base for such a QA scheme via (i) the development of the new European guidelines for breast cancer screening and diagnosis and (ii) a platform for evidence-based breast cancer guidelines covering stages other than screening and diagnosis (e.g. rehabilitation, follow-up, psychological support and palliative care). Preparation for the ECIBC included literature searches, stakeholder meetings and consensus building workshops and a European-wide survey to gather information on the status and organisation of breast cancer screening and care. This report is a summary of the meetings held in 2014.JRC.I.2-Public Health Policy Suppor

Report on the 4th Inter-laboratory Comparison Organised by the Community Reference Laboratory for Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons - 15 + 1 EU Priority PAHs in Fish and Acetonitrile

This report represents the results of the 4th inter-laboratory comparison organised by the CRL PAHs on the determination of the 16 EU priority PAHs in fish and acetonitrile. The test materials used in this exercise were raw, frozen fish spiked with the 16 PAHs, a cooked fish spiked with an extract of contaminated smoke flavourings and a solution in acetonitrile of the 16 PAHs. For the frozen fish 94% of results were rated as satisfactory with regard to performance. For the smoked fish 89% of results were rated satisfactory.JRC.DDG.D.6-Food Safety and Qualit

A voluntary accreditation scheme for Breast Cancer Services & the further development of European Breast Cancer Guidelines: project workshops report. Workshop for Experts: From 21 to 22 February 2013; Workshop for Countries Delegates: From 13 to 14 March 2013

Two Workshops were organised in order to inform and involve stakeholders about the task the JRC has been given of updating existing European Guidelines on Quality Assurance in Breast Cancer Screening and Diagnosis and, in parallel, to develop a quality assurance scheme for breast cancer services. Participants at both workshops, coming from different areas of competence and of interest (e.g. clinical experts, patients' associations, guidelines methodologists, policy makers, screening programme managers, etc), were asked to contribute with their own experience and knowledge and to provide input on project pillars and modalities to coordinated and optimise the direction of the project. This report not only includes the narration of the events, but also the main conclusions derived from a thorough discussion on the main aspects of the project and their impact on the planning of activities for meeting the requirements of the two tasks.JRC.I.2-Public Health Policy Suppor

Report on the 7th Inter-Laboratory Comparison Organised by the European Union Reference Laboratory for Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons - 15 + 1 EU Priority PAHs in Spiked Olive Oil and Solvent Solution

The European Union Reference Laboratory for PAHs (EU-RL-PAHs), operated by the Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (IRMM) of the Joint Research Centre (JRC), organises yearly one or more proficiency tests (PTs) within the scope of the Regulation (EC) 882/2004. The proficiency test here reported concerned the determination of the 15+1 EU priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in an olive oil test sample. Participants to these PT were National Reference Laboratories for PAHs (NRLs-PAHs) and EU official food control laboratories. The number of participants was 54. The PT was organised along the lines of the IUPAC Harmonised Protocol for the Proficiency Testing of Analytical Chemistry Laboratories. The test material used was olive oil spiked with a 15 + 1 EU priority PAHs and a solution of the target analytes in depending of the preference of the participants acetonitrile or toluene. The results from participants were rated with z-scores and zeta-scores. About 90 % of the reported results were attributed with z-scores with an absolute value of below two, which is the threshold for satisfactory performance.JRC.DG.D.6-Food Safety and Qualit

Validation of an Analytical Method to Determine the Content of Ochratoxin A in Animal Feed

An inter-laboratory comparison was carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of a method based on immunoaffinity column clean-up followed by high performance liquid chromatography using fluorimetric detection (HPLC-FL). The method was tested for the determination of ochratoxin A (OTA) in animal feed at concentration levels relevant to those proposed according to Commission Recommendation 2006/576/EC ( ). The test portion of the sample was extracted with methanol:water. The sample extract was filtered, diluted, passed over an immunoaffinity column for clean-up and then eluted with methanol. The separation and determination of the OTA was performed by reverse-phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with fluorescence detection with an excitation of 333 nm and emission of 467 nm. The animal feed samples, both spiked and naturally contaminated with OTA, were sent to 35 laboratories in 15 EU Member States, Colombia, Canada and Japan. Each laboratory received 6 duplicate samples ¿ 4 coded and 2 blanks for spiking with coded solutions. Blank marked test portions of the samples were spiked at levels of 76 µg/kg and 305 µg/kg OTA. The range of recovery values reported spanned from 47 % ¿ 124 % with an average value of 82 % and 79 % for each level respectively. Based on results for spiked samples (blind duplicates at two levels), as well as naturally contaminated samples (blind duplicates at three levels), the relative standard deviation for repeatability (RSDr) ranged from 3.1 % ¿ 4.7 %. The relative standard deviation for reproducibility (RSDR) ranged from 13.5 % ¿ 14.6 %. After correction for recovery, the RSDR values improved significantly and ranged from 5.6 % ¿ 6.4 %for naturally contaminated test materials. This method therefore showed acceptable within-laboratory and between-laboratory precision for each matrix.JRC.D.8-Food safety and qualit

Report on the Third Inter-Laboratory Comparison Test Organised by the Community Reference Laboratory for Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons - 15+1 EU Priority PAHs in Sausage Meat and Acetonitrile

This report presents the results of the 3rd inter-laboratory comparison (ILC) of the Community Reference Laboratory for Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) on the determination of the 15+1 EU priority PAHs in sausage meat and acetonitrile, which was conducted along the lines of the IUPAC International Harmonized Protocol for the Proficiency Testing of Analytical Chemical Laboratories. In agreement with the National Reference Laboratories, the test materials used in this exercise were a canned sausage meat preparation spiked with the 15+1 EU priority PAHs and a solution of the analytes in acetonitrile, respectively. The materials were prepared gravimetrically. The assigned concentration values of PAHs in sausage meat and in acetonitrile were calculated from the gravimetric preparation data. Only officially nominated National Reference Laboratories of the EU Member States and from countries covered by the Technical Assistance and Information Exchange programme of the European Commission were admitted as participants. However, from latter countries only one laboratory reported results. The participants were free to choose the method for the analysis of the materials. The performance of the participating laboratories was expressed as z-scores, which were calculated from the participants reported ¿final result¿ for the analytes' contents in the sausage meat material, based on gravimetrical preparation. The reported values of the laboratories for PAHs in acetonitrile were not rated. For the sausage meat material 88 % of the reported values were attributed with z-scores = |2|), indicating that most of the participating laboratories were performing satisfactorily with respect to internationally accepted standards. However, in some cases bias and/or a high variability were discovered, and some analytes consistently caused specific problems. It is therefore recommended to investigate this further.JRC.D.8-Food safety and qualit

European Commission Initiative on Breast Cancer (ECIBC): Plenary 2016

The European Commission Initiative on Breast Cancer (ECIBC) Plenaries are an opportunity to inform representatives from the 28 EU Member States and 7 other countries participating in the ECIBC, as well as patients and other stakeholders, policymakers, and the scientific and health policy communities, about the aims, activities and achievements of the ECIBC. They also provide a platform for the exchange of ideas, feedback and input into the ECIBC. The 2016 ECIBC Plenary, entitled “When science and policy collaborate for health”, took place on 24-25 November in Varese, Italy. Its main focus was the implementation of both the voluntary European Quality Assurance scheme for Breast Cancer Services (European QA scheme) and the European guidelines for breast cancer screening and diagnosis (European Breast Guidelines). In this context, the first concrete results were presented, with the launch of the first four European Breast Guidelines recommendations on screening. The first day of the Plenary was dedicated to the JRC informing the audience about the various tools that ECIBC is developing. The second day instead, gave the floor to the audience, who informed the JRC of their views in terms of the challenges and opportunities related to implementing the ECIBC in the respective European countries. The event opened with welcome speeches from the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), a moving presentation from a breast cancer survivor and reflections on how to ensure science makes its way into policy. The JRC and ECIBC working group members then brought the audience up to date with progress on the European QA scheme, the European Breast Guidelines, as well as the Guidelines Platform, the template for training on digital mammography, as well as about how ECIBC plans to monitor its impact. Participants also received in-depth explanations of the accreditation framework selected for the European QA scheme, as well as two countries’ experiences of using the ISO 15189 standard for accreditation, which is foreseen for the European QA scheme. The second day saw a focus on the individual countries represented at the Plenary. Presentations assessed how the European QA scheme could potentially fit into three different health systems (Scotland, the Netherlands, Romania), while a special breakout session gave national representatives from the 27 countries present (out of the 35 countries participating in the ECIBC) the chance to discuss implementation of the European Breast Guidelines and the European QA scheme themselves. The results, collected through questionnaires, fed into a roundtable debate on what needs to be done at European and national level to ensure ECIBC implementation. The meeting was closed by Member of the European Parliament and President of MEPs Against Cancer (MACs), Alojz Peterle. An evaluation of the event revealed that the third ECIBC Plenary met its aims to inform stakeholders: all responding participants felt that the event succeeded in providing a comprehensive overview of how the ECIBC is progressing, and what the challenges are. Discussions also provided the JRC with valuable information and feedback. The fourth ECIBC Plenary will take place once the results from piloting the European QA scheme are available.JRC.F.1-Health in Societ

GRADE workshop: grading the quality of evidence and strength of recommendations

In December 2013, the Public Health Policy Support Unit at the European Commission's Joint Research Centre organised a two-day workshop on developing evidence-based guidelines and healthcare recommendations using GRADE. GRADE stands for Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation. It is a method for grading the quality of evidence and going from this evidence to the corresponding healthcare recommendation. The aims of the workshop were: 1) To explain how to develop evidence-based guidelines and health recommendations using the GRADE approach. 2) To build a template for future trainings organised by the JRC on the guideline development process. Twenty participants, without experience using GRADE, attended the workshop—including 14 JRC staff, as well as representatives from the Directorate General for Health and Consumers (DG SANCO), the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and various external institutions. The workshop consisted of lectures on the theory behind guidelines development, group work and computer-based exercises. Organisers and participants deemed the training a success and the Public Health Policy Support Unit is planning additional GRADE-oriented workshops in the future.JRC.I.2-Public Health Policy Suppor

Report on the call for feedback about The Scope of the European guidelines for breast cancer screening and diagnosis: European Commission Initiative on Breast Cancer

In 2015, the European Commission Initiative on Breast Cancer (ECIBC) started the development of the European guidelines for breast cancer screening and diagnosis (henceforth the European Breast Guidelines) under the auspices of the Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE) and the technical and scientific coordination of the Directorate-General Joint Research Centre (JRC). To support the JRC in this task, a Guidelines Development Group (GDG), consisting of independent experts and individuals, was established. The European Breast Guidelines’ scope (The Scope) represented the first output of the development process of the European Breast Guidelines. Via a public call for feedback, stakeholders and individual citizens were invited to provide their feedback on The Scope. The call for feedback was open from 18 December 2015 to 17 January 2016 and an online questionnaire was made available on the ECIBC web hub via the EU Survey platform. The JRC received a total of 82 valid responses, from 40 individuals from 18 different countries and from 42 organisations from 20 different countries. During a meeting held in Varese (Italy) in March 2016, the GDG discussed the new version of The Scope which was prepared taking into account the results of the call for feedback. The Scope was finalised and approved by the GDG after some minor editing on 6 September 2016 and was later made publicly available together with this report.JRC.F.1-Health in Societ