Press Release: Three new Community Reference Laboratories will ensure reliable testing of food and animal feed

The safety and quality of food and feed are a growing public concern and research plays an increasingly important role in this sector to ensure consumers' confidence. The European Commission is setting up three laboratories to support national authorities in their efforts to keep food and feed free from dangerous substances. The three Community Reference Laboratories for heavy metals, mycotoxins and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) will be opened by European Commissioner for Health, Markos Kyprianou at the Commission's Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements in Geel, Belgium on 16 March 2007. Heavy metals, mycotoxins and PAHs are all substances with potentially harmful health effects that can be found in food. These laboratories will validate testing methods, develop reference materials and measurements and provide training and other tools to national laboratories so that food and animal feed can be kept safe across the EU.