Photo: Colourbox.com

First test of pesticide residues in feed for laying hens

Food safety
In its role as EU reference laboratory, the National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark, has organised, for the first time, a comparative test, a so-called proficiency test, for pesticide residues in feed for laying hens. The test shows that laboratories in the European Union perform well, despite the difficulty of the test with many different pesticides in the test material.

In its capacity as EU reference laboratory for pesticides in cereals and feedstuff, the National Food Institute organised a so-called proficiency test of pesticides in feedstuff for laying hens.

The purpose of proficiency tests is to improve the quality, exactness and comparability of analysis results from the official European laboratories which monitor pesticide residues in cereals and feedstuff.

Results are satisfactory

Test results show 13 so-called false positives and 50 false negatives out of 1,854 results. This means that the laboratories’ tests either show pesticides which are not present in the test material or do not find all those pesticides which are actually there. 

Nevertheless the National Food Institute concludes that the 120 participating laboratories perform well as the test material contained a higher variety of different pesticide residues than earlier tests of cereals. Furthermore, the laboratories arrived at figures quite close to the amount of pesticides actually contained in the test.

Read more

See the report: Report on Proficiency Test on incurred and spiked pesticides in feed (pdf).

The laboratories were asked to analyse a feedstuff sample sent to them and find residues of the 29 pesticides contained in the sample. The testing material was mixed at a feedstuff laboratory in Germany in realistic amounts relative to poultry feed, after which the National Food Institute ensured a high degree of homogeneity of the test material before it was distributed to the laboratories.

All in all, 106 EU laboratories and 14 laboratories outside the EU participated. The test is performed once a year, and this test is the first proficiency test of feedstuff.