IMEP-38, determination of total As, Cd, Pb, and Hg in compound feed : Interlaboratory comparison report

The Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (IRMM) of the Joint Research Centre, a Directorate General of the European Commission, operates the International Measurement Evaluation Programme (IMEP). IMEP organizes interlaboratory comparisons (ILCs) in support to EU policies. This report presents the results of the proficiency test (PT) which focused on the determination of total As, Cd, Pb and Hg in compound feed according to Directive 2002/32/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on undesirable substances in animal feed. The IMEP-38 exercise was organized aiming to assess the performance of food and feed control laboratories and official control laboratories. The test material used in this exercise was commercially available compound feed for cats which after the appropriate processing was spiked, bottled, labelled, numbered accordingly and dispatched to the participants on the 27th of June 2013. Forty-seven laboratories from 24 countries registered to the exercise of which 44 reported results and answered the respective questionnaire. The percentage of satisfactory z-scores ranged from 58 % (total arsenic) to 74 % (total cadmium) and the ζ-scores obtained were lower by 10 to 21%